Butterflies and Bellbirds

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I am here in Monteverde, Costa Rica working at the Butterfly Garden. What could be better, surrounded by nature and teaching people about the different insects found here in Costa Rica. It's a dream come true really. I am working as a volunteer and although I don't get paid they provide a room and food so there isn't much more I need.

I moved into the kitchen, where I live in a tiny loft that even when you kneel I'll hit my head, but in reality how much space does one really need. I can lay my head down and I have a warm blanket and if I need a midnight snack all I need to do is climb down my latter and grab one. I do share this room though, which I am sure you are thinking it is impossible but not when your roommates are nice and small like Roland and Mr. Jingles. Yes, I share my room with a rather large spider, that would be Roland although it is probably a female, and a lovely little mouse named Mr. Jingles (I'm a huge Stephen King fan if you didn't get that from those two names".

I didn't spend my whole time in the loft. After a month I moved into my bosses house while she went on vacation. I got to stay there and take care of her two crazy cats Little Man and Abbey. They really are crazy. When she returned, I moved back into my loft for a few days, then back over to her house. I stayed there for half a month only to move the floor of one of the volunteers rooms and then back to another house. I spent a lot of time drifting around, but it was fine and I had fun living in the different spots.

The gigs not bad, we wake up and open up the gardens which isn't to hard. We put the different critters out and see how our butterflies are doing and then we walk through the gardens and make sure everything is looking pretty. Throughout the day we give tours, groups ranging from two sixteen people. You start out in the nature center where we talk about Tarantulas, Cockroaches and so much more. From there we bring you through our four gorgeous gardens that are loaded with beautiful butterflies.

I enjoy the center a bit more than the gardens because I find all those crazy critters more interesting than the butterflies. We start out with the arachnids which include two tarantulas, a scorpion and a tailess whip scorpion. From there we move onto beetles where we have a lovely elephant beetle, bess beetles, and our mystery beetle box that is always changing things up. Cockroaches are next, my personal favorite, and than on to praying mantis, leaf mimicking katydids, and stick bugs. We finish up with the basic life cycle of a butterfly.

Then off to the gardens we go. Each garden represents a different elevation throughout Costa Rica until you end up in the fourth one that shows you just what you can find here in Monteverde. The gardens are all really beautiful, filled with different species from Blue Morphos to Glasswings, to so much more.

I work about six days in a row and then I get a day off to do with it as I please. Throughout my time there I got to check out a lot of Monteverde. My first day off was spent at the Ecological Sanctuary that I had visited with my brother and dad not that long ago. It is a beautiful place to hang out, several different trails and when I was done exploring the trails I brought a book to just relax and read. I had a friend here at the sanctuary, a little coati that was way to brave. I am sure it wasn't the same one, but the fellow came right up to me and actually licked my arm!

Another day I headed into town to check out the Serpentarium. It is a small place that you can explore in a short period of time. It is filled with different species of snakes that you can find throughout Costa Rica. I have to say that although it is cool to check out the different species, I felt bad for the ones that clearly need more space.

After the Serpentarium, I headed over to the Bat Jungle. I would totally recomend the Bat Jungle. The tour was awesome and really quite fascinating. The bats are really quite fantastic to see and what is even more impressive is what you hear. They make some fantastic sounds that you wouldn't hear in the wild.

A canopy tour was another one of my expeditions. Adarra and I spent a morning walking through the canopy over several bridges. We didn't get the nicest weather, but the hike was still fun. It misted throughout most of the day and we didn't see a whole lot although we did spot quite a few centipedes.

Now you can't spend months in Monteverde without checking out the Cloud Forest. More than anything, I wanted to see the Quetzal. I hitchiked my way over there and then headed out onto the trail searching for the bird that so many of my tourist had said they had seen. Unfortunately for me, I was extremely unlucky and saw no Quetzal. Although my hike was unsuccessful, I continued on to the Hummingbird Garden where there were just as many species as the last time I went.

Those are the more exciting places I got to go, but most days off were spent relaxing or heading into town to get a few things done. Laundry had to be taken into town and right at the laundry place in a great little breakfast place that also has wireless internet so many morning were spent there. A few days I just walked throughout Monteverde checking out different streets and paths and in fact one of these days was where I seemed to see some of the more interesting birds. I ran into a honeycreeper and many different little birds.

I really didn't even have to leave the gardens to see a lot of the wildlife that you could fine in Monteverde. Variegated squirrels, White-faced Capuchins, Agouti and we could occasionally hear the Howler Monkeys although they never came for a visit.

Besides for the mammals we also had our fair share of birds coming around. Orioles could be seen here and through and the blue gray tanager was a frequent visitor. Grackles, Chakalaka, Toucanets and so many more visited the gardens throughout my stay there. The most rewarding visitor to the gardens though came during one of my tours. As I heard the call, I can't pretend I didn't hurry that group up just a bit, and at the end of it I ran outside to see just what everyone else was looking at. A lovely Bellbird was sitting in one of the trees, not nearly as high as they normally do and he seemed to be just posing there for us. He was a handsome one too, all grown up with those oh so sexy wattles of his. It was awesome to get to see him, if I didn't get to see the Quetzal at least I got to see the Bellbird.

I was suppose to spend just two months at the gardens, but when staff fell short and the garden was in a pitch I extended my stay another month. It was just as much fun as the first two months and I did get a chance to explore more of the area, picking up more and more birds on my list.

The days are spent hiking, exploring and working super hard but the nights are spent having fun. There are a few places you MUST check out if you ever find yourself out in Monteverde.

Number one and the all time best restaurant ever that I long for every Tuesday is Chimera's. It is a small restuarant that serves tapas food and the best tapas food that I have ever eaten. Every Tuesday the group I worked with headed out to Chimera's were we ordered basically the whole menu including one fabulous drink. We would save up our tips and that is what we would spend it on. The fried yuca makes my mouth water even as I write this months later. Best green beans, mashed potatoes, onion rings and so much more. I started my time in Costa Rica as a vegetarian but by the end of it I no longer was and the meat dishes that I wouldn't have touched just months ago were so fantastic.

Another hot spot for us was Johnny's. I actually ate here with my family and after awhile these seemed to be a place we would end up every once in awhile. The foods great, the drinks are great, and they would usually sit us outside so it was always fun to stop by there.

Mata Cana's is the bar we went to probably too frequently. Good prices, good music, and good company equaled a good time. On Thursday nights you can actually stop by and learn salsa which I attempted but didn't really succeed at.

Just at the end of our dirt road, when you finally meet up with the paved road there is a little chocolate shop called Dolce Marzos. Here you can get some of the best little chocolates. When we had a fixing for chocolate, we would run there for an amazing treat.

The hardest part of volunteering at the gardens is that people come and go. When I first got there the group that was already there had already spent a month working. In another month they were all gone. The next batch came and left within a month and the last month I had to leave them. It was hard to say goodbye to each of those groups, since they become your family spending all day and basically all night with them. But overall I came out of that place with some of the greatest friends ever!

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." ~Lao-Tzu

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