A Guided Tour: Monteverde Cloud Forest, March 2

We got up very early, mostly because neither of us could sleep with the roaring of the wind. It is hurricane like and we are sitting high up on a hill. To say we are "buffeted" is a huge understatement. And, we also got up early to be at the Cloud Forest early and to leave the cabin while the road was open.

We arrived so early that we actually got into the tiny parking lot of the Cloud Forest. (6 a.m. arrival) We are SO glad that we got there early because two Quetzals were perched in the trees by the parking lot. They are magical and we felt lucky to see them because they can be very elusive. We hired Giovani Bello, a local guide for the morning. He arrived with his lovely 22 year old daughter who is visiting from San Jose. We hiked until 12:30, although we made very frequent stops to observe and nothing was strenous. The park limits the number of visitors to 300 which was reached by mid-morning when we took a coffee break and then went back in. We are so glad that we hired a guide. Giovanni, a character, regards the birds as his "babies" and spotted birds we would have walked by. And, of course, he identified them for us. Like Jecca, Willy and Otis and Henry, he identifies a lot by sound. He also was knowledgeable about all the flora and fauna, the trees, the orchids, the bugs etc etc. It was a day we will remember the rest of our lives. And, it was NOT raining. We were adequately dressed. I had on long underwear (top and bottom), a long sleeved shirt and the lovely rainjacket Jecca and Willy gave me (and one for Mark) for this trip. I also had on rain pants and my new Keen sandals. Mark was less dressed than I was, but adequately dressed, too.

 

After birding for over 6 hours (with a coffee break to watch hummingbirds), the four of us went to CASEM, a women's cooperative outside the park where we had typical Costa Rican food. Mark had an egg dish with beans and rice and I had a vegetarian selection with plantains.

We had intended to find an internet cafe, but time was too short as we did not want to miss the 3:30 opening of the road. We did, however, find the time to get some cash from the ATM.

 

Then, we went home to a pre-ordered meal made by Gisele for us. I had tilapia which Gisele grows in her pond. It came with beans and rice and plantains (which were SO much better than the ones at lunch.) Mark had chicken (Gisele and Didier's own), also with rice and beans and her wonderful salsa (which was also here on arrival) plus homemade lemonaide and a lemon pie. It was all yummy, although I have been avoiding rice and only ate some of the beans.

Another quiet evening without the internet which is beginning to frustrate us as it was advertised and promised to us. Supposedly the cable guy come today but needs a new cable.

As we saw so many great birds which we want to record, we have decided to list them on another entry in the blog. Still windy, which makes it sound much too benign for this wind.