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Published: April 29th 2012
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After sleeping in until about 5:45, we were on our way to our morning fresh fruit festival (the fruiit alone here is worth the trip!) when we heard about a nearby sloth. It was curled up tight around a branch doing what sloths do best - snoozing.
We broke fast and drove up the mountain to the Monteverde cloud forest, so named as the peaks are often shrouded in cloud mist which condenses on the leaves and drips continuously spawning a riot of orchids, bromeliads, trees, vines and the endless species that pyramid from there.
We had heard from sources that the numero uno primo Monteverde guide was Carlos, and we were fortunate to spend hours with him and no others. We scurried behind him from trail to trail until we had spectacular views of the endangered and odd three-wattled bell bird. It looks like it has 3 pieces of wet licorice, or three slimy gummy worms trailing from its bill - a real must-see for the lady bellbirds I hear. It is said to have the loudest call of any bird in the world and we concur.
Carlos passed one of many holes just off the ground
and showed us a humungous orange-kneed tarantula that looked ready to pounce.
It was a tarantula thing, as soom thereafter a HUGE wasp flew by. Carlos warned us to stay clear and said the sting of the Tarantula Wasp is terrible and healing is slow. So named because (yuck) they sting and paralyze tarantulas and then slowly DRAG them (did I mention it was a huge wasp?) into a hole, lay eggs on the paralyzed tarantula and when the eggs hatch the larva eat the spider - eggs anyone?
After showing us the storied resplendant quetzal (Guatamala's national bird and Guatamalans come in droves so they can get a glimpse of it in Monteverde, Costa Rica!) we spied a small howler monkey troupe moving above. After watching for a couple minutes we heard a thumping sound and Carlos shouted RUN!, and so we did. Duck and cover is a good term for our howler monkey engagement as they were hurling their poop at us and it was thudding through the leaves to the forest floor. Luckily we evaded the simian dung bombing and strafing unmucked.
We happened by a small fern and Carlos asked us what we
could see on top of the fern - we were less than one foot from the plant... "water"... "small beetles"..."spores"... finally we realized we had been staring right at a green stick insect and didn't see it as the camoflage was so spectaular.
We finished out extensive hiking by hanging out at a place where they had lots of hummingbird feeders and we watched seven species of hummingbirds feed only a couple feet from our noses.
The afternooon Kim and Marika walked into town and Will and I did a couple smaller trails nearby the Lodge. We saw the same sloth we had seen 10 hours before and it had cuddled around another branch about a foot away. Will and I concluded that as soon as we turned our back, the sloth broke out iinto a disco swinging routine.
We wrapped up our adventures by heading to a highly recommended local Tico mom and pop restaurant and had tarantula-wasp-sized portions of fabulous local Costa Rican cooking at absurdly low prices. Yum.
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Heather Mace
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Feast for the eyes!
What a phenomenal feast for the eyes for you all! The picture are exceptional - I am envious of the diversity of wildlife you get to see! Do you think you'll be able to pick a favourite?