News from the Campos home: Hiking in Finca Lerida

We had been wanting to go back to Finca Lerida and hike the trails there ONE MORE time before we leave. Starting with last Wednesday, when we actually got up very early and even called a taxi the night before to take us! But that Wednesday morning, the weather didn't look that good so we called the taxi and cancelled. Then each day after that it either was very cloudy when we got up (which meant it'd be raining later) or it was already raining. We were beginning to think that we had lost our chance to go up there.
But no, today the sky towards the volcano was clear blue sky so we figured it'd be a good day. We called a taxi to take us up, paid our "trail fee" and took it easy the whole way up. The hardest part of the trail really is right before you get to the best part of the trail, the part where the trail becomes narrower and your in the forest. We spent quite a bit of time as soon as we got into the forest trying to identify (better yet trying to even SEE the bird) that always seemed to be JUST RIGHT THERE, but we couldn't see it! The fact that it was practically straight above us didn't help, because our necks would hurt looking up so long. Finally, we decided to get a plastic bag that Guillermo had in his backpack, spread it out on the ground and lie down on it, looking up, to see if we could see the bird. This really helped being able to look straight up, but it didn't make it any more possible to figure out where the bird was. Finally, we gave up and stood around a little longer trying to see it when all of a sudden Guillermo spotted it among the leaves. It was a 3 wattled Bell Bird! We were so happy to finally see it. It looked like a young male, so its coloring wasn't that great. But satisified, we continued on the trail.

This time, at the T of the trail, we turned left and headed toward the waterfall. That was a nice hike and we heard LOTS of birds but couldn't see any of them. There were some birds that sounded exactly like a child swinging on a squeaky swing. At the end of the trail, there is a waterfall, but you can't get very close to it and it's hard to see between the trees. On our walk back, I almost stepped on a snake!! It passed right between Guillermo and me! So, Guillermo either walked right over it, or it coordinated its crossing of the trail to fit perfectly between the two of us as we walked by - and I was walking right behind Guillermo!! As soon as I saw the snake, right where I was about to step, I made a noise that made Guillermo think I had fallen down the embankment. Well, it WAS a shock to see that snake! This snake was dark gray, very thin and about 2 and a half feet long. That was VERY exciting!

Back at the T of the trail, we ran into a family who hadn't really planned on hiking that far but somehow or another there they were. They were all in shorts and short-sleeves and getting eaten up by mosquitoes. Guillermo gave them some repellant wipes and they were so grateful. They seemed very nice and they headed on in the direction of the waterfall, and we started slowly walking down. Next thing we know, they caught up with us again, saying they decided against going all the way to the waterfall. So, they joined us the rest of the way on the trail back down. When we got back out to the coffee fields, we heard the Bell Bird again, so we all stood around and tried to pick it out of the trees. This one we did get to see well, and we saw its colors better so that was nice!

Guillermo with Aaron and Griffin as we're heading back down.