In modern life, we don't understand dark. Our night is one of pseudo-darkness, a neon night. Even out in the "country" there is the glow of the city and at least moonlight.

Here, in the rain forest, it is Dark. You cannot see your companion at your shoulder if your flashlight is off. Even with your light, the trail you knew so well vanishes or becomes a dim path, worse if you're the person behind the person with the flashlight. I can now understand the worship of the moon. And the sun. And the comfort of the fire glow. And fear of the darkness.

We had a lovely day rafting, though we had a bit of a scare when the bus was thirty minutes late picking us up at the hotel. The night before was a dinner of sea bass and cervazas.

Our rafting companions are as follows:

 
• Fernando--Our rafting guide, bilingual (Spanish/English), outgoing, short hair, nice looking, confidant.
• Alexandra & Danny--a couple from Italy, though Alexandra is part Costa Rican. She speaks Italian, Spanish and some English, so we converse with her and Danny through her. Danny is very funny, making "physical" jokes, funny faces, and tossing in phrases in all sorts of languages. He owns restaurants in Italy, she works somehow for the consulate.
• John--A "free spirit" working as a kayak river guide (including as ours) for the winter. He does the skiing thing, kayaking on all sorts of rivers (Grand Canyon, New Zealand), mountain biking. Very likable. His would be an interesting life, though I think I might have trouble with it, being more "intellectual" than "physical."

The family who runs the camp has 14 children. Some of the boys are learning to raft/kayak; several of the girls and boys ate dinner with us.

Back tracking a bit, after the bus came, we had breakfast at a small place on the way, rice and beans. Two and half hours to the river from there, with lots of cattle, cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis), and coffee farms along the way. We even stopped to observe a couple of sloths trying to hide their round faces high in the trees. Then we went rafting for about 2 hours and had lunch at camp (beans and such in tortillas). A friendly parrot begged cookies.

We all took a hike after lunch, including me dousing myself in a waterfall. It was very nice and I could have swam longer. I regretted the siesta I took later, but the hikes afterward were fruitful. The second, with Glen, we spotted an owl and spent some time watching it. It had very long "horns," light colored with dark body. It was dusk, so we couldn't get any other colors or markings. Lots of bats swooped by as we walked back. [Later, I id'ed the owl as a Crested Owl, Lophostrix cristata].

The first hike, by myself, should be mentioned for what I saw inside instead of outside. I took myself up one trail, then back to the creek where the waterfall was. I sat on stone for a while, solitude in nature being a rare thing for me (and not always desired, since I did not want to get lost in the forest as I did briefly in Colorado once!). I called to a bird several times. I began to have a revelation there, and the phrase came to mind that this place is what is important in the big picture. Keeping these areas wild, and preserving it for the plants and animals, is critical. I thought about how I wanted to know more about ecological systems and how humans impact them. I thought about how I would like to use my job and skills to protect and understand all this. On this trip and in the next few weeks, I need to envision my goal and how to achieve it. I want my job and life to be something important, at least in a small way, and to be something I love.

It is important to remember how pure the dark can be--and the water and the sky.