Monteverde - Rain rain go away!

---

So next stop was Monteverde. As per the last few days it rained pretty much the whole way, although it didn´t stop the views from the lake being rsather interesting. The ´jeep´part of the journey after the lake was our bumpiest trip yet. 2.5 hours of not really staying in your seat. We arrived at what we are told is the best accomodation of our trip, and it is nice. Powerfull hot showers, mmmm.

The afternoon was at our leisure so some of us went to the Butterfly farm. This had far more than its name suggests starting with a variety of insects and spiders which most were disgusting, but some I found really interesting. Unfortunately due to the recent rain and wind the butterfiles were not very active but I saw some I do not believe I have before including glass winged ones which look stunning. The day ended with my best meal yet - seabass with a creamy prawn sauce.

Today we started the day by doing a canopy tour. This consisted of a variety of zip wires through the cloud forest and a couple of added extras such as a tarzan swing. The last zip wire was by far the best at about 700m across the valley. By this point the weather had started to clear so the view was really nice.

In the afternoon I felt the need to go on a cloud forest tour, very nervous that again this would be a waste of time. Luckily it was not as we paid $15 each for an amazing guide. We saw the Quetzal which is what everyone hopes to see when they visit. It´s the national bird of Guatemala but is very rare there. We saw 2, both a male and female. When we later told our Guatemalan tour leader he was rather excited. I really hope I can add photos for you soon of this colourful bird so you can see for yourself. It changes colour in the light too! We also saw a couple of Tarantulas which I´m actually not quite so scared of any more. The first was only about a foot away from me when i saw it! Amongst other things we also saw a group of about 8 Howler monkeys including a baby so all in all quite good value for money. We believe that we would have missed it all had we been alone!

Next stop tommorrow is Nicaragua. An 8 ish hour journey from here to the middle of a lake with freshwater sharks!

---

Photos

Leaf Insects
Like stick insects, but leaves - fantastic!

Canopy Tour
After a zip wire over the valley hat was so long it needed the weight of 2 people!

Tarantula No 3
This, the 3rd of 4, was about 1 foot away when I saw it, yuck.

The Quetzal
Through a telescope!