Monteverde

Last night we went on the night hike with our guide Carlos, Brittany,Tommy and I and four flashlights. We walked for two hours through the rainforest hearing all the sounds of nature, but we didnt see much except insects and our big find was a giant taranchula spider. It was still very exciting of the possibility of what was there that we werent seeing. Many times we turned off the flashlights just to see the dark and hear the sounds. I was surprised that there are larva on the ground the glow in the dark and they look like lights all over the ground.

After the hike we had dinner in our hotel. The dining room is under construction, so they have tables sitting outside on their grounds with candles lit all around and laterns hanging from the trees. It was sooooo beautiful. I know the finished dining room could never have the ambiance of the outdoors.

This morning we woke to see white faced monkeys (black with white faces) swinging all around the trees outside our hotel room. They were beautiful. We also saw a beautiful toucan fly by. He was too fast to get a photo of unfortunately.

We then had breakfast outdoors and then met our tour guide for the morning. We were very pleased that it was Carlos again from last nights tour. He took us up to the Montverde Cloud Forest where it is always raining. Fortunately, today we had an unusual sunny day and it was absolutely gorgeous. In this forest we saw the spider monkey which our guide says is the rarest in the area. We also saw a very rare bird , the Resplendent Quetzal, that all bird watchers come to see and usually leave only with a postcard photo of. Well I have an actual photo taken with my own hands. We saw many other birds and animals and I enjoyed photographing them.

Carlos then took us to a hummingbird garden and I took lots of good photos of the hummingbirds flying around.

When we came back to the hotel it was time for lunch and Brittany had her mind set on pizza. She had seen a pizza place on the route and assured us that it was within walking distance. Oh my goodness!! It was maybe half a mile but it was up a very steep hill the whole way. A little difficult for me, but I made it and it was a lovely restaurant and great pizza. I am happy to say that it was downhill all the way back to our hotel.

Unfortunately, it is time to pack because our driver picks us up at 300 to take us to the beach in Tamarindo. We will be there two nights. I am a little concerned about getting car sick on this leg of our journey because it is four and a half hours long and the roads around here are unpaved, very rough, very steep and large drop offs by the road. It will be an adventure.!