I’m writing from Hotel Los Jardines in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I am SO glad to be in the mountains, where it is cool – only 77 degrees and not humid, rather than in the 90’s and sticky humid all the time like it was at the very beautiful beach in the Bejuco District.

This trip with Bamboo has involved much less work than I expected. It’s been more of an education about what is being done to slow the destruction of the environment and what is being done to try to reclaim it.  I’m being reminded that I can make changes that can have an impact, such as not buying anything that comes in a one use plastic container or wrapper. Difficult but possible.

We’ve spent the last five nights sleeping at the beach house. The mornings were spent in: going on a trek to gather seeds for reforestation, visiting a fishing village, working in and around a greenhouse that is nurturing tree seedlings, and sorting plastic waste for recycling. Afternoons were free. I spent mine taking short dips in the water followed by a cool shower, nap, and lolling around on the veranda enjoying the view but getting very sticky again.

I was very happy to pack my bags and get on the bus to come to the mountains. When we stopped to admire the view, it was wonderful to feel the coolness and the drops of cloud moisture pricking our skin.

We visited a small family owned organic coffee farm, which was very lovely,  then had some time to rest and rejuvenate at the hotel, including enjoying a cocktail at happy hour.

Then it was off to dinner at The Treehouse, a restaurant which has been built around a huge tree.

It is late and tomorrow morning we go zip lining “through the rainforest canopy”. I’m super excited about it. I’ve done it twice before – once in Mexico, above the canyons, and again near Austin, which was pretty tame. I expect this time to be very thrilling!