Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Hi all, Austin here.

Today, on Monday, May 23 in Monteverde, Costa Rica, Matt and I took a school bus turned town bus (but still used as a school bus) about 5km to Monteverde at 7:30 this morning. After a good night's rest (I started watching the Godfather for the first time last night) we had breakfast consisting of pineapple, banana, watermelon, milk + granola, a slice of bread, and scrambled eggs. This is Mauricio's brother's hostel, so all the rules and regs are the same, including the breakfast menu.

After arriving at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/monteverdes-cloud-forests.html) we got a map and advice on two hikes, a 3-hour hike and a 2-hour hike. This was our only plan for the day, so we opted for both.

Being in the forest alone is phenomenal. Whenever you want, you simply stop walking, keep quiet, and listen. The forest is full of animals making noises and communicating. It's stunning. Today, we saw three quetzals, a wild cat, a slug, two caterpillars, a crab (very rare), a vine snake, vulchers, many birds, and homo sapiens.

I did bring my tripod today so that Sauer and I could take photos with both of us in the frame since no one would be around to take photos for us. It worked wonderfully.

The first trail took us 3.5 hours since we stopped many times to search and listen for animals. Ty - I killed two horseflies in one swat today, you're welcome. The middle stretch went through a damp, low-land kind of marsh which brought few animals and many bugs! After the marsh, we continued up to an outlook very high in the mountain with a great view of Monteverde. After finishing our firsh hike of 3.5 hours, we stopped back at the park entrance to have lunch and visit the gift shop.

So, yesterday we purchased four HUGE bananas and had two of them yesterday, and were eating the other two for lunch at the park. A ranger walked over to us and informed us that these were not bananas, but plantains. He said that you are only supposed to eat them if the plantain has been fried first. Great. We did notice that they were harder to peel and didn't taste as good, but we figured we had gotten a bad batch. To our defense, the sign said "platanos" which is one of two words used for "banana". The ranger also told us that it causes and itchy stomach and sometimes diarrhea ha. Uh oh. We feel good so far.

The second hike was on a smaller path and included more ups and downs. We needed to go quicker on this one, since we sought to catch the 2 PM bus back to our hostel. The bugs were worse on this hike, and of course, we didn't have our bug spray. Bad plan.

We just got dropped off at the hostel, went to grab some groceries for dinner (juice, pasta, pasta sauce, and bananas - not plantains). After we speak with the hostel owner regarding our next bus (tomorrow morning from Monteverde to Liberia) we will take the night easy and read/watch a movie.

Hasta Luego!

Austin + Matt