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Published: January 22nd 2010
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White faced monkey
Upon entering the Childrens Eternal Rain forest we were greeted by a group of Whie faces monkeys getting some chow. We´ve arrived in Monteverde and are enjoying the funky, small town. There are 2 big Preserves here - Monteverde and Santa Elena. Between the 2 areas are 2 towns - Santa Elena and Monteverde (origionally a Quaker settlement). After a few dud hotels, we were a bit apprehensive about what we would find at the hostel we booked, but we were pleasantly surprised. We are in a lively hostel - fun music, lots of fellow travelers, and a clean comfortable room. We spent our first afternoon checking out the town and planning how we´d like to spend our days here. We found a neat little bar that is built around a giant tree, appropriately named the Tree House. Of course we couldn´t resist stopping in for a cold drink, and to sit among the tree branches.
We decided to check out the Monteverde Reserve first. Its one of the most famous cloud forests in the world, and was chosen as one of the 7 wonders of Costa Rica. Our guidebook warned that this is a VERY popular park, and sometimes wildlife sightings are very rare, so we went into our hike without any expectations. We arranged a guide through our
hotel, and it was great. The guide was by far the BEST, and most knowledgeable guide we have encountered. He spotted a male and female quetzal for our group to see - so that was very exciting. It is a bird that people come to the park to see. Its actually the national bird of Guatemala, but they are almost extinct in that country-our guide told us people come from all over to catch a glimpse. We also got to see coatis, hummingbirds, wrens, and a wild turkey. THe park is just beautiful lush cloud forest. The temperature is much cooler here than at the beach - we are glad we have our fleece jackets! After our guided hike, we had plenty of time to enjoy some of the other trails at the park on our own, so we hiked for another couple of hours. We followed a trail that led over a suspended hanging bridge and on a scenic viewing area and to the continental divide. We had amazing views of the surrounding area.
We also decided to spend some time checking out a bunch of exhibits around town. We started with the Bat Jungle. We got to
Quetzal through scope
Our guide took this picture for us with our camera throught his scope. learn all about bats - fruit bats, insect bats, nector bats. There are about 70 species of bats in Monteverde, including Vampire bats. The exhibit had set up technology so that visitors could here the high pitched sounds the bats use to locate food. We also learned about the skeletal structure of the bats wings - which is surprisingly similar to that of a human, they have elbows and 5 ¨finger¨like bones in their wings. They are also able to move their wings independently, unlike birds. The tour ended with a walk through an area with live bats, we got to see and hear them. Pretty cool. We ended up our morning with a visit to a chocolate shop for a treat and a cup of espresso - we were buzzing right along to our next stop. We walked over to the Snake House to see their exhibit. They had a wide variety of snakes - both venemous and non venemous. They even had baby Fer de Lance (the most deadly snake here in CR). After an afternoon break, we went over for an evening tour of the Frog Pond. We got their just before dusk, and had a very
knowledgable guide who walked us through the exhibits of about 20 types of Frogs. After the tour, we waited for it to get dark and went back for another walk through so that we could see the frogs a bit more active. We got flash lights and walked through the dark paths. The frogs were more active - we had hoped to get some pictures but it was difficult with the glass cases, so we were a bit bummed, but it was still a very fun experience.
Although we did a hanging bridge walk in La Fortuna, we decided to check out the bridges here in Monteverde. We went to the Seveltura Park to walk through their 8 bridges. The loop is about 3km and winds through the forest. The bridges were not as crowded as in La Fortuna, so that was nice. It was a very beautiful morning, although a little damp and chilly. In the afternoon we walked over to the Satuario Ecologio to walk through some trails, and take a night tour. Night tours are very popular, and give us a chance to see wildlife we wouldn´t normally encounter. During our afternoon walk we saw coati
Inside the Strangler Fig
The tree this Strangler wrapped itself around is completely gone. The process takes around 80-100 years. I had to reach my arm all the way in to take this photo. I felt like I was in that old Flash Gordon move where he was forced to reach in to the tree, hoping not to get bit by the creature inside. and agouti, and had a nice hike through forest. The forest there is a bit different from the other preserves - its called premontane forest - which is forest that has had significant regrowth after having been cut down. During our night hike we saw a snake (high up in a tree), a sloth, sleeping birds - a mot mot, a wren and a toucanati, and a HUGE tarantula! it was very cool to walk through the forest at night. You could catch glimpses of the stars and moon through the tops of the trees.
Since we visited the Monteverde preserve, we also wanted to check out the other big area - Reserva Santa Elena. It is a less frequented park than Monteverde, and is said to be much quieter. We decided to do another guided hike in the morning - as its pretty difficult to sight some of the birds and animals. Unfortunately, our guide was not as great as some of the others, and her scope was not as powerful. We did get to see another Quetzal and some other small birds. Afterwards, we decided to do the Cano Negro trail - a 5km loop. The cloud
forest is slightly higher in elevation than Monteverde, and some of the forest is secondary growth. It is very humid, most of the water comes as mist from the clouds. It was quite chilly, although it was warm and sunny in town. There were very few people out on the trail - so it was a nice, peaceful walk. About halfway through the trail - Edward stopped rather quickly, as there was a good size tarantula right on the path! We tiptoed around it 😊 The reserve is one of the first community managed conservation projects, and is managed by the local high school, so we were glad to support this organization.
Another greak hiking spot is the Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (Ther Childrens Eternal Rainforest). It is the largest private reserve in the area. School kids began fundraising in Sweden and the US, which then spread around the globe. Over 40 countires have contributed to the purchase and protection of this area. We decided to walk to the reserve - along the way there are art galleries scattered about, so we broke up the walk by popping into look around. One of the galleries is a womens
Green Vine snake
Got this shot at the Serpentario. co-op, supporting local area artists. We chatted with a woman from Canada who was there volunteering for several weeks. Once we got to the entrance of the park, we were greeted by a group of white faced monkies having a morning snack in the trees. We spent a couple of hours walking the trails - we spotted some birds and an agouti on the trail. At a bright sunny viewpoint, we stopped and had a rest and snack before we looped back to the entrance. As we made our way back into town, we decided to stop and have a cold drink at a funky little pizza joint.
We´ve had a great time here - there´s tons to do, and we found that most of the activities and tours were more reasonably priced than at some other locations. Its been a jam packed week! We were origionally planning on heading to Tortuguero next week, but we decided to change our plans, and instead - will be heading to Spanish School in Orosi. We are really looking forward to hopefully building up our skills. We visited Orosi briefly our first week here, and are also excited to spend some more
time there as its a very serene location.
Until the next time....
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elle
non-member comment
wow
OK snake wasn't too bad. Thanks for sharing your adventures and the beauty of the area. It is just amazing!!!!!