Friday After breakfast on the balcony, our first task was to find Bob some new sandals. His current pair broke, not surprising since they had been glued together after our last trip. The old ones ended up in the garbage after he found a pair of flip flops in his price range! Back to the hotel balcony, Bob was reading his book in the hammock and I was looking for critters in the trees. I spotted a black spiny-tailed iguana (had to look up this one). He started on a low branch, then went straight up to the top of the tree. Their maximum length is 39 inches, although this one was a bit smaller, and their maximum speed is 25 mph. A kids' drum band was practicing in the park at the time. I think ... read more

Wednesday Busy travel day today. Our final destination is Montezuma, but we have four legs of transportation to get there. The bus to Puntarenas was scheduled to leave at 6am. .We got an early start and walked up the hill to the bus station at 5:30. The Puntarenas bus was coming down the hill. It left half an hour early! Good thing we were out early; we flagged the bus down for the 2.5 hour ride. The road down to Monteverde was very bumpy and winding, with lush green valleys and grazing sheep. Monteverde was originallly a Quaker settlememt and to stem the tourist flow, they lobbied to stop developers from paving the roads. This worked for a while but the town grew anyway. Further along. the sides of the road were lined with high rock ... read more

Monday Bright sunny morning. We could see the ocean in the distance from our balcony. Breakfast is included at our hotel...big fruit plate, toast, and home-grown, organic coffee. Delicious! Just perfect for us. Today we were off to the Monteverde Biological Reserve. This is a cloud forest, and has been labeled the most famous cloud forest in the world. It contains over 100 species of mammals, over 400 species of birds, over 3000 plant species, and the largest orchid diversity in the world. Only 3% of the reserve is open for visitation. We caught the bus to Monteverde at 730am, just up the hill from our hotel, in front of the drugstore. The reserve lets in only 160 people at a time, so it is best to get an early start. The road inclined quickly, and ... read more

Saturday Lots of rain last night. The room was quiet, the highest room, far away from the street. The only commotion was a couple of pesky roosters that woke up at 6am! The mountains were all clouded in at that hour, but we hope to get some good photos later. Had breakfast on the balcony, fruit and coffee. We sat and watched the birds. Saw a hummingbird in a close flowering tree, but he was too quick for a photo. We walked to the central park area. It was about 9am, and starting to get very humid. The flowers were gorgeous, and the smell so sweet. Many yellow butterflies were fluttering around. We chased a few more hummingbirds, but they were too fast for us! The best view of the volcano, Volcan Aranel, is from the ... read more

Thursday Just a comment for those who might send me personal email. For some reason, my email account has been scrambled. I can send, but not receive. If you wish to reach us personally, use Bob's address, retakala@yahoo.com. A few days ago we checked the weather forecast for San Jose and saw thunderstorms for the entire week. We were pleasantly surprised because today was a nice sunny day. The sky was dark in spots, but never let loose. We started out on our walking adventure this morning. The area around the hotel is a bit run-down, but the area is a mixture of old and new. Our first chore was to get some money. (500 colones per dollar, so a bill can seem very large, with way too many zeroes). First problem was that the ATM ... read more