Ii8 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



as we would have liked. In July, while staying in Tierra 

 Blanca, P. went up on foot, but the day proved so misty 

 that not only was there no view from the summit, but he 

 was really unable to make out more than a few features of 

 the crater. He only found the trail by accidentally meeting 

 a youth who was hunting a strayed mule and was able to 

 guide him, and the mist was so dense that it would have been 

 too dangerous to wander far from the trail. Thanks to this 

 chance encounter P. saw the edge of a deep daughter-crater 

 yawning in the floor of the largest crater and learned that 

 there were many such pits, but he could not see more than 

 a few feet ahead and therefore returned to Tierra Blanca 

 after waiting awhile for the unlikely chance of the mist's 

 blowing out of the crater. While returning over the crater 

 and the cinder cone, the only guide through the mist was his 

 own footsteps in the damp cinders, but he was able to follow 

 these without much difficulty to the path in the forest. 



On September 22 we set out for the crater on horseback. 

 Although in the midst of the rainy season, which is not 

 usually a favorable time, the summit had been beautifully 

 clear for several days so that we felt encouraged to make the 

 trip then. Starting from Cartago about seven in the morn- 

 ing, we reached Tierra Blanca at nine, enjoying brilliant 

 sunshine and beautiful views. After the customary baiting 

 of the horses there we pushed on to a point some six hundred 

 feet above the village, where a long stretch of relatively 

 level road follows the terrifically steep hills of Tierra Blanca, 

 and where the road is joined by another ascending from the 

 valley of Cartago but east of Tierra Blanca. This latter was 

 usually known as the "milk road" because it was the one 

 followed each morning by the train of pack-mules from the 

 Jimenez Lecheria, and although considerably longer it was 

 far easier to travel, as it skirted the Tierra Blanca hills. 

 We ate our breakfast here, under some roadside guitite trees 



