Mr. Toad's Wild Ride / finca ecologica

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Travelling to the Monteverde Cloud Forest area from San Jose is like a two hour trip on Mr. Toad's wild ride. A big part of the road up the mountains is a rocky, gravel, narrow road which shares space with tour buses and locals, even very young kids herding their brahma cows up the mountain and vaqueros on horseback. Very harrowing; everything I read before the trip said don't try to drive the road and I'm glad I didn't. Omar has made the trip tons of time and he is a very cautious driver. It may have taken us a little longer but we were able to see some wildlife along the way, including a rare sighting of a laughing falcon. We would not have spotted it on our own. We also saw a pair of white-throated magpie-jays. This was a good way to begin spotting the wildlife pointed out by the guides; it takes a bit to get the hang of it.

Our goal was the Monteverde Lodge, a CRE property. The property is beautifully landscaped upon entry and the gardens behind the lodge attract all the local wildlife. One morning we watch a large group of white-throated capuchins feeding in the trees which upsets the bird population because the monkeys are omnivorous. See more info on the lodge at the website I have viewed the photos and video, they are all accurate. The video is an excellent and accurate encapsulation of my trip to Monteverde.

In the afternoon we had a 3-hour nature tour; a private guide (Orlando) took us through the ecological reserve which is a privately owned farm that is now a conservation area bordering the national park that is the monteverde cloud forest. The owners get a break for conserving the property, it has beautiful views of the gulf de nicoya (pacific side), and it is available for private tours. The most fascinating thing at this site was a huge anthill for the leaf cutter ants. I have not seen this ant in the US and it is most fascinating. The workers cut the leaves, there are quality control ants who ride on top inspecting the leaf, and there are big soldier ants who defend the whole process. It was fascinating. The leaves are used in the colony to grow a fungus which supports the colony.

This location was our first look at a toucan and emerald toucanette, both of which we saw better later.

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Photos

Keel-billed toucan
This shot was taken through Orlando's scope

Our group
(L-R) Regina, Mark, Sharon, our guide at Finca Ecologica, Orlando

Two toed sloth
This is a two-toed sloth up in the tree on the grounds of the Monteverde Lodge

Gardens
at Monteverde Lodge

Monteverde Lodge
My room. No tv, radio, climate control, etc. Very peaceful and pretty surroundings

Comments

[kerry blasdel]

love the blog
pretty photos. glad you took the time to journal and take photos and publish on the web. never saw a travel blog yet. lots of the photos remind me of Brazil. thanks for sending me your blog. K