Adventures in Selvatura

On Tuesday morning, we got up early to explore the town and get ready for our afternoon adventure in Selvatura. After breakfast, Mom and CJ relaxed at the hotel, while Maki, Alex, dad and I walked to Santa Elena, the local town. It was a pretty steep walk down to the town, which consists of a couple of blocks of shops and restaurants. I picked up some souvenirs, Maki's dad bought a map, then we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Ziplining and Treetop Walkways

After a hurried lunch, we were off to Selvatura, a nature reserve. Maki and Alex spent a couple of hours ziplining through the forest, while mom, dad, CJ and I walked the trails and crossed 8 hanging bridges. Alex and Maki said ziplining was amazing. They did close to a dozen jumps. Here's how it works. Wearing a helmet, you get strapped into the line, you get coaching about whether and how much to brake (which you do with your gloved hands), and then you get pushed down the steel cable from one platform to the next.

Our walk through the rainforest was wonderful. It seems everyone was zipling, because we only saw 4 other people on the trail. The hanging bridges are literally hanging between the edges of a canyon. The bridges are made of steel and you can see all the way down to the bottom of the forest. Thank goodness there is a protective fence or I would not have let CJ cross a single bridge. As it was, CJ just adored the bridges and insisted on being the first across most of the bridges. He was fearless on the trail and on the bridges.

About halfway through our walk, it started to rain. Actually, it started to pour. My Liz Claiborne jacket didn't hold up to the rain and I got drenched. CJ's LLBean jacket was a champ and kept the little guy completely dry, except for the bottom part of his legs, which were not covered. Maki said it was not fun standing in the rain on the platforms, but once they got going, the rain didn't matter.

Butterfly Garden

We also visited the butterfly garden, the largest in Costa Rica. We saw the famed blue butterfliy of Costa Rica, the owl butterfly (named because of the owl eyes on its wings), the glass wing butterfly and many others. CJ enjoyed taking picture of the butterflies as they fed on fruit and as they sipped nectar from the flowers. What I found most fascinating was the chrysalis. The gardeners gather up the chrysalis (no idea how to make this plural) and tack them onto a board so that they can be monitored. Each butterfly has a distinct chrysalis. Some are light green, some are brown, some are shaped like shells, some are long ang thin. We also learned that while nearly all butterflies will feed from the nectar of any flower, each butterfly prefers a specific plant as its host plant, or the plant where it lays its eggs.

Amazing Tapas

For dinner, we decided to go off the property and ventured a local place called Chimera, which advertised Latin-infused tapas. OMG, we had the best tapas ever. We enjoyed curried shrimp, coconut shrimp, ceviche, roasted eggplant, and stewed chicken. For dessert, our favorites were the apple cake with chocolate-chili sauce, and the chocolate mousse with sangria syrup. The restaurant manager, Cindy, a transplant from Dallas, told us that she came to visit in November and has decided never to leave. Her 12-year is attending the local Quaker school, while she helps manage a coffee shop and restaurant. For her, la pura vida is a reality.