Bosque Nubiosa Monteverde

We were up early ro get ready for our hiking appointment at Monteverde. When I opened the front door, the entire porch was covered in muddy dogs prints. Hmmm… I thought, night visitors. The next thing I noticed was that only one of the Reef sandals was still on the porch! I just bought those things! As we were loading up the car, three Australian cattle dogs came running up to give PJ kisses. No matter how hard I tried to persuade them, they wouldn’t give up the location of the missing flip flop.

We arrived in plenty of time to meet up with our assigned tour guide. We signed up online for our entry and guided tour hoping that way we might spot a few more animals. Mariana was our gal and she was all business like a middle school biology teacher. I don’t know if there is a group maximum, but we were in a mob of twelve people inching up the trail. I mean inching because 45 minutes into our hike, we could still see the entry gate. I learned in depth information on the reproductive habits of tarantulas, even though I could barely make out a few fangs at the entrance to the hole it was hiding in.

PJ teamed up with a pair of ~20 year old sisters from San Francisco and we all made fun of the tour even as we benefited from some insights from the profesora. The coolest things happened spontaneously. As she was trying to focus on some bird a mile away hidden in some branches, three fat agoutis strolled across the trail behind her, she being completely oblivious while us 12 oohed and aahed.

An hour and a half in, we made it to the hanging bridge, about 500 meters from the entrance. We turned around and made our way back to the front of the park where we all went our separate ways. A quick bathroom break, then PJ and I were off on our own. Now we could put in some kilometers.

We started on the trail to the waterfall. Beautiful trek through the moss and epiphyte covered jungle. A moderate waterfall, but a great spot to relax for a while waiting for butterflies to land so we could try to catch a photo. While scanning for butterflies, a dragonfly came and landed on my hand. Magical. The blue morphos were fast and elusive, never stopping to rest on a branch or leaf. So many though. We’d see them coming and just watch them flit around us. More people arrived at the small viewing platform, so it was time to hit the trail

We took an offshoot that went sharply uphill. The trail was made of waffle shaped concrete blocks. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually had to bust a sweat in the cool altitudes of this area. We spotted a large guan sitting in a tree which inspired some poor puns like ‘which guan’ ‘that guan’ etc. At about four and a half hours into the hike, we came to a long downhill. Knowing that what we go down, we’ll have to come back up we decided it was maybe time to turn around and seek the exit.

A half hour later, we reached the fork and turned left towards the gate. A few steps further, there in a tree sat a resplendent quetzal, the money bird that everyone comes to see. We were stoked. The guide said we would be really lucky to find one. I managed to take a few blurry pictures before he flittered over to another spot semi hidden in the foilage. We watched him skip from place to place and truly enjoyed the show.

The shuttle driver was just pulling away as we exited the reserve. Not wanting to wait for the turn around, we chose to truck on down the hill to the parking lot. Past all of the cars owned by smarter people that knew that you could not only save the $5 but also park right near the entrance for free. Just added another mile to our already sore feet. Six hours after starting our hike, we picked up the car and explored around San Luis and other little back country bergs before heading into Santa Elena and parking ourselves at an end table on a restaurant balcony where we carbo loaded and used their internet for a couple of hours. As night fell, we made the short drive home as the rain began to fall. A great last day in the mountains.