Settled in

Well, we are finally settled into our cabin in San Ramon, So far, we have not had any rain and the temperature hovers around high 70s during the day and middle 60s for the night. We heard an interesting fact about Costa Rica today and that was it is 1/3 the size of Scotland so it is not a large country.
Yesterday, we braved the roads to go to a botanical garden displaying a variety of orchids. I find the roads quite scary as there are a lot of motor bikes and people walking alongside of the road. You also have to take into account the deep gullies at the side of the roads. I presume they are to keep the rain off the road and from going into the houses in the rainy season. The Costa Ricans or Ticans as they liked to be called take no notice of speed limits and stop signs so when you get to an intersection you have to stop to make sure nothing is coming through an opposing stop sign. Gary has done really well with the driving, I am proud of him.
The orchid center we went to yesterday gave some information on how orchids grow. Apparently, the adult orchid produces a pod and from the pod the seeds are expelled. The seeds then have to find a particular tree to adhere to from whence they will in several years (about 5) become flower bearing orchid plants.
I have had no success growing orchids at home and now I think I know why - I over water them. The orchids at the gardens were growing out of trees, plant pots and on wires hanging in the air with no soil.

There was one spectacular orchid by which I just had to have my photo taken. How many orchids made up this plant, I do not know.

The garden also had lots of giant sized bamboo. I stood next to it to give you some perspective of the height.

We came across some banana plants which have always fascinated me because the bananas grow upwards not downwards as you would expect.

We have decided to eat breakfast and then eat an early dinner (around 4:30pm) to make sure we get home before it is dark as we do not want to be driving in the dark. So, after the Orchid Garden we went to a local mall because we knew we would find something to eat there. We did - McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell and a Chinese Restaurant. Gary went for the Chinese, I went for KFC!!
Today was Gary's turn to choose where we were going to visit and he chose the Else Kientzler Botanical Garden which was about 45 kilometers from San Ramon. The garden covered quite a few acres and took us about 2 hours to get around on the uneven paths. The gardens were quite extensive and had many different types of tropical plants along with some I knew the name of.

The garden also had a very nice succulent garden.

The trash cans were interesting. They were raised off the ground underneath tiled roofs that had plants growing on top of them.

That was much nicer that looking at plastic trash cans.
The garden did not have a lot of wildlife. We did see a bird we did not recognize and a squirrel with a very long tail. However, we did see two butterflies we did not know the name of.

Now I look at the photos of the butterflies I think they may be the same type but with different shading because they do look similar, don't they.
There was a nice view of the distant hills from the garden.

Unfortunately, the hills did not show up well in the photo.
On the way back to San Ramon we stopped at a roadside restaurant. The menu was written in Spanish so we had to get some help from a waitress who spoke very little English. Gary ordered cerviche with octopus. Ceviche is a seafood dish popular in the coastal regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. Though the origin of ceviche is hotly debated, the dish is most closely associated with Peru. It is typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and spiced with ají or chili peppers. I chose something less adventurous - spaghetti bolognese.  
So ends day number two of touring.
Just before settling down for the night Gary came and told me there was a big bug on our patio. Well, of course I had to go out and photograph it. Unfortunately, the large bug was laying on its back so I tried to turn it over and it clung to my finger with very sticky legs. I screamed and flung the bug down on the floor. Luckily it landed right way up and I took my photograph.