Dinner and Nightwalk 2-20-08

After we checked in and the students settled in, we were able to enjoy our surroundings and relax a bit. The view from our hotels was incredible. Like I mentioned earlier, it has to be seen to truly appreciate the beauty of it. The weather was in the high 80’s, and some students went swimming, others played tennis, while the guys came to the gym to work out with me. Keith: Just doing my workout, Tuesdays arms and back. Wednesdays I like to look at myself in the mirror.
Keith: "Noone said situps. Ohh, it's the deep burn. Oh, it's so deep. Oh, I can barely lift my right leg'cause I did so many. I don't know if you heard me counting. I did over a thousand".

So after a couple of hours of hanging out, we put on our hiking shoes and headed to the Night Walk, which is a forest that has been conserved and protected by Costa Rica. We saw many exotic insects and animals during this excursion at the Santuario Ecologico.

Santuario Ecológico

Getting ready to go see a puma, or maybe a velaso raptor.

Hiking through the sanctuary.

Mommy, I wanna ride the swing.

Sloth hanging from a tree.

Tour guide showing us a species of ant that is very strong like bull. He is actually holding the ant, and the ant has a G.I. Joe with a Kung Fu grip on that leaf. These things bite, but do not inject folic acid, therefore, the bite does not irritate...but you will feel it when he sticks you with his fangs. This is a soldier ant.

This is their colony. It is estimated that there can be up to as many as 5 million ants in a colony. The largest colony was found in China, but I was too busy trying to keep ants off my legs to remember the number.

...and when the saints go marching in...

Tarantula...

Ficus tree...They are known to grow over other trees and feed off their nutrients until the other tree detoriates.

Is the tour over yet? "And this is a tree, another tree, a bush, another tarantula, and dirt that you will only find in Costa Rica".

Here you can see the walking stick...

Dinner after the night walk.

Represent NETC and EHHS... yerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!!!

We were able to see a lunar eclipse that same night. It started at 9:30 and lasted until 11. The last time a lunar eclipse was seen in Costa Rica was 15 years ago, and this one could only be seen by certain countries that are close to the equator, some of South America, and a few countries in Europe. It was very difficult to catch the eclipse on a digital camera. After watching the eclipse for about ehhhhhhh 3 minutes, we hung out at the pool.

Holy cow!!! Hitchhiker's thumb...Yikes, put those things down. You'll poke someone's eye out, Merrill.

EHHS represent on the shuttle bus. Diane always looking fabulous no matter what time of day or night...

Whoooooooooooooo...The pintos were a bad choice for Michael. He's feeling the effects...

Ari and her impression of the Step Team. She has tried out three times and has been cut 5. You'll see why...