Blogs from Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 15

The weather in Monteverde made me homesick - constant drizzle and gusts of wind that chilled through to the bone. Real rain jacket weather - zip up, hood up. It was like being in a cloud. This is not how I imagined Costa Rica to be. The area´s name really should have given it away though, but my brain must have focused more on the word ´forest´ than ´cloud´when we decided to head to Monteverde Cloud Forest. Doh. Not ones to let the weather get us down, we donned our unflattering waterproofs (as we saw on other tourists, all waterproofs seem designed to make the wearer look ridiculous - why is that?) and ventured out into the clouds, first exploring on foot. Since we began our Supertramp, we have heard much about the beautiful queztal bird. ... read more

We catch the bus up to Monteverde National park and hike the trails of the Cloud Forest. The 2 hour walk, the park ranger suggests, only takes us one hour to complete. We need to wait an hour before we can catch the bus back to town, so, we check out the humming bird gallery. The colours on those humming birds are really amazing and the birds are very fast. It's almost impossible to get a good picture of them while they are flying. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures of them. We pop into the coffee shop and have a coffee break. I order hot chocolate. It's the best hot chocolate I have ever had. They make it with coco powder and real chocolate. Very delicious . We head ... read more

We head off to Monteverde for the cloud forest. I'm driving. It's been a long time since I drove but I'm up for it. On the mountain road to Monteverde, Jayne really needs to go to the bathroom, but there is only the "Inka bathroom" available, so, I pull over and stop. Jayne jumps out and Adam goes with her. I decide I need to go as well. It's cold, windy and raining. Adam tells me to turn around so I can see the cars coming, but the wind is blowing in my face when I do. I don't want to spray myself, so, I turn back the other way and tell Jayne to close her eyes. She does but starts walking backwards towards the SUV as she is cold and soaked. I tell her to ... read more

Hope all of you are staying warm in the nasty Iowa weather! I've heard it has been in the negatives! It is not as warm as I thought it would be here yet, but my tico mother (tico is the word for native Costa Ricans) said January is the transition month between their "winter" and summer, so it will start getting really warm in February and March. Although my suitcase barely made the weight limit in the airport, I don't think I packed as many clothes as I thought I did! Classes started on Tuesday and are going well so far! (For those of you who don't know, all of my classes are in Spanish.) My Latin American Literature teacher is from Cuba. She is very nice, expressive, and enunciates each word so she is ... read more

Hello from the rainforest! Eric, Joanne and I left Pangea Hostel in San Jose early on Saturday morning and caught a cab to the bus station. Arriving just before 6am, we bought the $3 tickets to Monteverde, and found a nearby store selling breads and drinks. In the cool of the morning, we waited about 45 minutes for the bus. We also met another traveller, Andrew from Washington, DC, who was going to Monteverde too. The bus pulled out at 6:30 and was soon on its way through metro San Jose. It picked up several more passengers at stops in the city, before turning up into the hills. We made good time for the first few hours, on winding paved roads with great views towards the Nicoya peninsula and the Pacific ocean. I passed the time ... read more