After several bottles of red wine consumed on our neighbor's balcony, we all climbed aboard the bus which took us into town for dinner. We were on our own for dinner and so when most of the group headed one way we headed the other. We found that eating in a smaller group was faster and not as noisy. The restaurant we chose was over a large grocery store and tourist shop and they offered us a 15% discount to eat there. Adults sat at one table and the kids were at another.
As usual the food was good and the wine quite tasty. We did some shopping downstairs after the meal and boarded our bus for the ride back to the hotel. It had rained some while we ate, but by the time we were back at our rooms it was balmy and muggy once more.
The kids ran around while Tom and I settled in for the night. We had an early AM call to hike the rainforest in the Cloud Forest Reserve so that we could observe more animals. They tend to come out in the early morning thus the early wake-up tour. It was optional, but we all decided to take part.
For some reason since arriving in Costa Rica, my body has adapted well to the early evening/early morning routine. I almost always hear the howler monkeys in the early morning around 3 or 4 o'clock and think then that it is time to rise and shine, but a glance at the watch tells me I have a few more hours. By the time our 6:00 call came I was up and getting dressed for the hike into the cloud reserve.
We had 6 guides assigned to our group, but since several people opted out of the walk our group was the four of us, one other child, and our regular guide Alonzo coming along as a tourist. Our guide was Adrian who was very enthusiastic and serious about saving the rainforest. We started off into the rainforest. It was a bit nippy this high and this early in the day and so we wore jackets that we eventually shed as the day progressed.
As we walked and Adrian talked he suddenly stopped, put his finger into the air, and shushed us. We listened as birds called to one another and then whispering, "Follow me, quickly!" Adrian took off running with the five of us close on his heels. When he eventually stopped he set up a huge tripod with power binoculars attached to one end, pointed them into the trees, and searched until he found what he had heard....this bird above. We all got to take turns looking at him through the binoculars. The colors on this little guy was just amazing.
I started getting excited at seeing this colorful bird. Finally I was going to see some Costa Rican rainforest animals in all their spectacular beauty! Adrian took all of our cameras and put them up to his binoculars and snapped our photos so that we could remember these critters forever. So cool.
As we hiked Adrian lectured us on the rainforest and the importance of it on our ecosystem. He talked about recycling and the dangers of chopping down trees. So many of the trees in the cloud reserve are well over 12 feet tall and we came across one that had fallen in the night taking out a couple more as it landed. All natural and the way it should be as Adrian explained to us.
He told us that when he was a boy playing in the rainforest he and his brother would climb inside the trees and climb up, up, up. For added adventure he would climb inside the tree as high as he could go then shout to his brother who would chop the tree down so that Adrian could have a wild ride as the tree toppled over. "Before I was aware of the horror I was doing," he told us. And then he would shush us, put his finger into the air, and off we would run again to view this toucan.
or this flower (see the face inside?)
and this very popular bird that not everyone gets to see
Adrian took us over another swinging bridge where we spotted two different mother species sitting on nests and then we hiked back through a very muddy trail to the hummingbird feeding area where we were so close to these little guys I could have touched them if they would have allowed it.
The bus took us back to our hotel where we packed up our belongings and settled back on to the bus for the long, long ride to the Pacific Ocean and Samara Beach.
Bananas right outside my balcony in Monteverde
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