Monteverde Excitement

Enough monkeying around. Time to have some fun. Activities in Costa Rica are on the expensive side, so we had to be a little picky with the things we did in Monteverde. So, on our first full day in this touristy cloud forest town, we decided to hike up to the highest peak in the nearby area to get a view of the land.

Really, we were hiking up an access road to where there are telephone and radio towers. It's not exactly a big attraction to most people, because it is a hell of a hike up. Thus, the views were free of charge.

One of the main attractions of what you can see from the top is Arenal volcano. However, as it is in the midst of a cloud forest, you are lucky if you get to see it. Arenal is on the left in the distance, but no sight of the top. Oh well.

Looking in the other direction, back towards the town of Monteverde, things are pretty clear. You can't really tell, but the Pacific ocean is in view off in the distance behind Laura.

This next picture gives a little idea of our hike. The peak in the middle, way off in the distance, is the where we hiked to. It took us about an hour to get to the top, and about a half an hour to get down. Exhausting, but worth it.
Later that night, we had planned on going on a night tour of some nearby land. As many of the animals in the area are nocturnal, this is the best opportunity to get a glimpse of them as they move around. The thing that we were most excited about was that these tours almost guaranteed seeing a sloth.

Well, I am happy to report, that we did, in fact, see a sloth on the tour. (Drumroll please)

TAADAA!

Isn't it awesome!?! There he is in all his glory. A two toed sloth. Though he didn't move much, we did get to see him try to pick off some of the parasites that are known to bug these creatures. Yes, I know, it's really hard to make him out. And I'll have you know, that this picture totally does the experience justice. As in, it totally sucked. (Disclaimer: the words expressed herein are solely the opinion of myself, Tim, and do not reflect the opinions of all Wiscaminantes.) (Double disclaimer: Laura made me put in the disclaimer.)

I'll put it in perspective. The main reason that this experience totally blew is because it was advertised as more than it was, and it cost us $20 a piece!!!! $40 for two hours of walking around on a fairly small plot of land with a flashlight to see this?!? Oh, but to be fair, there was so much more that I will tell you about now. (deep breath)

I'll start from the beginning. It had just gotten dark, and there were about 40 people there for the tours in groups of anywhere from 6 to 10 people (maybe 7 groups in all). Though I can't be entirely sure because it was dark, but I suspect, that this piece of land was no more than 30 or 40 acres. My main thought process behind this was that I started to recognize particular trees and crossings as we double-backed numerous times. Now, with that many people walking around trails on a plot of land that small, there is plenty of warning for the animals to go and hide somewhere else. Therefore, we didn't get to see as much as we expected.

So, here's how it worked: Each guide was equipped with a strong flashlight(stronger than the one provided to you because I think they didn't want you to spot anything yourself, thus making you realize you don't need a guide for this) and a walkie talkie. The walkie talkie was for guides to converse between themselves to inform one another when a particular animal was spotted. So if one group spots, say, a sloth, which only happened one time for all 7 groups, the rest of the groups rush over in this mad dash(as if a sloth is going anywhere) which created a false sense of adventure. Ok, as promised, we saw a sloth. It was really high up in the trees, and for the most part, anticlimactic.

On to other creatures. We then visited this hole in the ground created by a buried bamboo pole(as in, they put it there to create this effect). The guide then starts poking a stick in the whole, and what comes out? A tarantula!! Oh, how unexpected! After that, we head to the large ficus tree(which in themselves are actually pretty cool) where ALL of the animals come to eat because of the fruit that is produced. In other words, like shooting fish in a barrel. Here,we scared ONE coati into running away from us. Coati's are the same raccoon like animal that we encountered in Tikal, and I was unimpressed.

In between some of these sightings, there were a few things that were neat. There was a little wren that was hiding in a tree, asleep, and all you could see was a puff of feathers. And what else? Hmmm. That's about it. We hiked and retraced our steps to find our guide's favorite frog, but no dice. At intervals, the guide would stop and point out insects, like katydids, and stick bugs. Eh. Then came the last straw for me. He stopped to show us a daddy long legs spider. At this point, I completely stopped listening to him, I stopped looking when he pointed at things, and I mostly just wandered around about ten paces behind the group flashing my light at anything and everything I went past. In other words, I checked out. I don't really know what happened with the tour after that, because I wasn't on it.

So, to sum up the experience, if you are ever in Costa Rica and contemplating going on a night tour, I would recommend that you, instead, buy 10 liters of beer(per person) for the same price, grab a flashlight, wander in the woods, and have roughly 10 times the fun! You just don't need a guide to show you wildlife here. It's everywhere!

Luckily, the night tour is the ONLY thing I regret doing/paying for in Costa Rica. Everything else was great, especially the canopy tour that we went on. The canopy tour is actually a zip line tour through the forests where you cruise on cables at up to 55 miles per hour. So incredibly fun and exhilarating. But of course, safety first. Helmets and harnesses are a must.

Below, is a picture of Laura getting hooked up to a cable, and heading out. At the beginning of some of these cables, you are standing right on the ground. No big deal. But once you are have moved 50 meters or so along the cable, you could be hanging high above the trees. At first, it was a really freaky feeling, but after a while, you begin to just enjoy the views. Besides, there's nothing you can do about it anyway once you're feet are off the ground.

With this tour company, there were also a couple of other fun activities included. They had what they like to call an "Indiana Jones bridge", which was fun, but I don't think it really lives up to the name.(It just sounds so dramatic)

There was also a quick rappel, where, while attached to a rope, the guides let you free fall for 25-30 meters before bringing you to a sudden stop near the ground.

And also a "tarzan swing" which totally lives up to the name. I don't have a picture, but with the tarzan swing, you climb up to the top of a 30 meter high tower, and attached to ropes, jump off, or have a guide push you off, and enjoy the ride. This was extremely fun.

The final zipline of the tour was the quite possibly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. They call it the "Superman cable". (they love the dramatic titles) Well, as you may surmise, with this cable, you are flipped over, and ride as if you were flying like superman. It stretches 600 meters long, and reaches heights above the ground of 80 meters. Unlike the previous cables, where you can have a hand on the cable at all times that may provide a small feeling of security, with this ride, you have nothing to hold on to, and really, you can't even see what is holding you up. Totally free, and alone. I think it's about as close to a bird's eye view of flying over the trees as I will ever get.

I soared first, so I was able to get a shot of Laura making her approach to the end.

However, I told her afterwards, she looked a little less like Superman, and a little more like a wasp!

The other thing that we really enjoyed doing in Monteverde was cooking for ourselves!! We haven't found very many hostels with a kitchen, or rather a clean kitchen that wasn't used by a messy backpacker who doesn't clean up after themself, but here, we were able to make stir fry on some nights and big meals of spaghetti on others!

I never knew I would miss preparing my own food so much.

It actually felt like home. But if that wasn't enough, surely it felt like home when we went to the store and saw this display.

Though, even at home, I wouldn't be caught drinking the beast! And for a buck a can!?! Why they decided it was necessary to import Milwaukee's Best(Worst) into Costa Rica will always be a mystery to me.