Tuesday - we are definitely out of the flatlands today.
A van dropped us off at the trail after a great breakfast at the hotel, and the trail/road climbed uphill for most of the day. Plenty of blue sky and hot sun for most of the day and my umbrella was up to the task of keeping me from burning.
When we ran out of gravel, we had slick red mud, and finally a trail when the 'road' ended. Before setting off on the overgrown trail, everyone put their lower pant legs on because this section has a sharp, cutting grass with barbs that grip and rip.
Continuing uphill, the day became warmer and more humid. We worked hard and sweated a lot!
We mostly passed through steep cattle grazing land and rain forest but saw little wildlife. A highlight was seeing a sloth hanging out in a tree right over the trail. But, my favorite was seeing more ant highways where thousands of ants carry leaf bits into the jungle. We also saw 4 beautiful bright green parrots, and about a dozen parakeets. The parrots were extremely loud squawking in the trees. The parakeets were flying as a small flock but they were all flying in obvious pairs. It was very interesting and they were evidently mating couples.
We finally encountered rain at the very end of our day's hike just as we reached our destination at around 2:30. We are 'camping' inside a one room school. It is very simple but clean and comfortable. Two young ladies made us a late lunch of squash soup. We are in the clouds while the drizzle continues and the temperature has dropped a bit.
We apparently hiked 15 or 17km on about 6 hours.
Tomorrow, we have a much longer hike and are planning to get up and going at 5am. So, tonight is early to bed after yet more food!
You can see our route at Hikers Social
(See Instagram for pics of the day)