Costa Rica: Day 2
We woke on day two fully refreshed and ready to go. After some more fresh fruit and coffee, we packed up our bags and headed over to the Holiday Inn Express near the airport where we waited for the shuttle. The shuttle pulled up already nearly full with wedding guests. A large number of guests were also Claremont College alum, some I hadn’t met and some I hadn’t seen since graduated. It was a fun drive.
It was also a beautiful drive. It was such a diverse landscape of open green fields, small towns, and rain forest trees.
We made a brief pit stop, at a gift shop, so everyone was able to start their souvenir shopping. After that we were on our way again, crossing a bridge and then briefly getting lost because we missed our turn. We made a quick u-turn and then were on the little dirt road to Finca Luna Nueva Lodge.
Finca Luna Nueva is an organic-biodynamic farm that has only recently been opened to the public. Violet was so excited about the food we were going to have over the weekend and she was right. Every meal is prepared fresh from food grown on the farm. It may have looked like simple pasta with marina sauce and salad, but I was in love from first bite. The salad consisted of at least five different types of lettuce. It felt like we were eating whole plants, but very tasty plants.
After lunch and getting our room settled, we were able to take a tour of the surrounding farm and forest. I saw how pineapple grew for the first time, plants with vines, and even plants that would uproot themselves and move to find sunlight.
We also got to walk through parts of the farm. They grow things all together rather than growing just one plant in large amounts. It’s better for the soil and for the plants apparently. Our guide gave us a sample of all types of herbs and plants. As the sun set, we sat around an outdoor lounge area, listening as the jungle came alive with noises and a slow sprinkle of rain started. It was so peaceful and relaxing. We had another amazing meal and a few drinks while listening to live music played by a guy named Human (pretty sure it’s not his real name. by pure coincidence he was there this time and was also there playing music when Ricardo proposed to Janiva at the same spot).
The wedding party went through a brief rehearsal and then more planning, so I called it an early night, listening to the first half of my second audiobook, Torchwood: Another Life (read by none other than the great John Barrowman). Day 2 was amazing.