Rancho Grande

On Sunday F and I went with his cousin and his girlfriend to Rancho Grande. Rancho Grande is a biological station within the Henri Pittier national park. It was originally built as a hotel by a dictator in the 1960s, but what with military coups, changes of dictatorship and whatnot, it was never finished and was left to go to ruin. Somewhere along the lines the Universidad Central took over the top floor and they use it as a study centre, and the national park guards use the bottom floor. The building hasn´t been refurbished however and it is like a secret ruin hidden in the hills. There were quite a few birdwatchers waiting for birds to arrive (there is some incredible quantity of birds there apparently) and a couple of park guards but it was basically deserted.


We did see some pretty cool birds and also an amazing butterfly when had beautiful orange and black wings and when he closed them he looked just like a leaf. Amazing.


Also on the wildlife front we found clumps of bats sleeping in the old cookers in the kitchen. Yuk yuk. I still haven´t got over the time a bat fell on my head in the church porch.