WOW! All I can say is unbelievable! Our first day waking up in the jungle! When we arrived at Alture, it was dark so we really could not tell what was around us. I could not wait to open all the curtains to see what was out there. Our suite was a single unit encompassed of all windows. From the living area to the bedroom, it was surrounded by beautiful fauna. We even had a little courtyard with a waterfall on the way to the bathroom. Even the shower had windows, but the rest of the bathroom did not, thank goodness…
Atura (our B&B) is next to the Poás Volcano. It is an active stratovolcano, 8,884 feet above sea level, located within the Poas Volcano National Park. It has erupted 40 times since 1828, including April 2017, when visitors and residents were evacuated. According to our B&B, it was closed for 18 months after the eruption and only recently re-opened to the public a few months ago. And we were sleeping right in its path!
After a delicious, fresh breakfast at Altura, we loaded up the Chery and made our way to La Paz Waterfall and Gardens. It was only about 10 minutes away. I could not wait! This place has been on my bucket list for years! Of course my favorite attraction was the Hummingbird Garden, so we had to go straight there. La Plaz boasts to have more wild hummingbirds in one place, than anywhere else in the world!
That appeared to hold true. We saw so many different species it was hard to keep up. We took a LOT of pictures! In all, we saw 10 different species, of all different sizes, 3 inches to 6 inches. All different colors from green, to purple to blue to black & white. (Unfortunately, we didn’t see any Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, so we couldn’t leave any messages to all our favorites that visit us in the summer.) Chris could not get me to leave that one area so he ventured off to visit other sections of the park and came back to find me still enjoying my Hummers! I was told at 4:00 we could feed the hummingbirds. YES, we got to FEED them and YES, some landed on our hands! I really missed that feeling. Those tiny little feet, barley tickling your finger while one of the fastest moving bird sits perfectly still on your hand, looking up at you as if to say hello and thank you. A few landed on Chris’s hands too. How could our trip get any better than this?
We did see other birds such as a Grey-blue Tanager, Bananaquit, Passerini’s Tanager and several colorful frogs when we broke for lunch and walked on some of the various trails. Up and down thousands of stairs I may add. After a full day, we headed back to our Bed & Breakfast exhausted and amazed.
What will tomorrow bring?