Clouds , frogs, spiders and a zipline

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I love out-of-the-way, rugged places. For me, holidays are about the experiences, and the people, and the memories, rather than sitting on a nice beach getting tanned. I try to plant myself where I am and embrace what is there in front of me. Evelyn Glennie - percussionist



Before we left La Fortuna we had an evening partying local style. We visited a stream of hot springs that you had to climb rocks to get to , and carry flashlights to enjoy the warm rapids of the stream from the volcano. To get to Montverde we crossed the Adrenal Lake by ferry and drove on gravel roads to the mountains. Quakers from the US immigrated here in the 50’s and managed to keep the roads from being built in an effort to stem the tourist flow. Our hotel was once a stable and has been converted to a sprawling complex of buildings with rooms overlooking the lush foliage. However because of the size running to the room quick involves a shuttle bus and more than 15 minutes. We toured a coffee/sugarcane/cocoa plantation. Owned by a family who made there way to Monteverde years ago by oxcart. The trip took 3 weeks. Today it can be done by car in 2 hours. There we learned about sugarcane , coffee beans and made our own sugar candy. We sampled coffee, chocolate and molasses. In the cloud forest we spotted animals in the wild :a tarantula, leafcutter ants and a hummingbird nest. But try as he might our guide could not find the quetzal bird that sparked the hordes of tourists with telephoto lenses. The big highlight was the zip lining. Scary mile long lines that zipped us over the canopies in positions called Superman and Tarzan. On the last day we visited the cheese factory to learn about the cheese, the Quakers and try some samples. Did I mention the samples? After in search of less elusive wildlife I went to the frog pond. A zoo type frog center it has tanks of frogs including the blue jeans frog a tiny red guy with blue legs. In the middle is a frog pond where frogs from nature come to live. Life is good - for them. Tonight we had a birthday party for one of our group at happy hour so it was cocktails and cake before dinner.

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