We wake up super early because we have a reservation to get a guided tour of Monteverde National Park this morning. But we dawdle getting ready so that we don't have time to eat breakfast. Sad face. (Sean was watching the Thanksgiving day parade on TV. Mucho balloonos!) We pick up Ronnie our guide in the hotel lobby and drive with him to the park.
Monteverde is located off of a dirt/rock road and I am excited that we get to use 4WD. It is kind of drizzling this morning, and quite windy. It had been pouring all night. We are the first car to pull into the Monteverde parking lot, and the parking attendant relays that the park is temporarily closed while they check for downed trees and clear paths. So Ronnie shows us to the cafe where we eat breakfast!!! Happy face! We get the same shit that we've been eating every single morning: pinto gallo (rice and beans) with fried plantains and eggs.
As we finished eating, Ronnie returns to tell us that they opened the park, but that his other clients all speak Spanish, so he is passing us on to a different tour guide. Our new guide is Ricardo. He carries a telescope. We set off for one of the short, easy trails along with another hotel guest named David from Louisiana.
All the tour guides stay in the low areas of the park, where the trail is fully paved and they can stop and set up their telescopes without trouble. Ricardo points out a baby toucan, an enormous caterpillar, and a tarantula, and brings us to the hummingbird garden. He shows up some tall ferns that are over a hundred years old. We learn about the strangler fig, which begins to grow on the top of another tree. It sends down vine-like roots, but when the roots hit the soil, they suck up so many nutrients that they grow big and strong and choke out the tree they are surrounding. I am still obsessed with the plants that have veiny leaves so that water can drip off efficiently. They are the opposite of the plants in Southern California, which try to hold on to moisture for as long as possible.
Ricardo leaves us at the hummingbird garden, which is the greatest place in the world. The park has set up several feeders amongst these trees and bushes that the hummingbirds like. There are dozens of brightly colored birds buzzing and humming and flitting from branch to branch and feeder to feeder. We get some coffee and tea and sit and watch in partial hypnosis. The hummingbird that is special in Costa Rica has a bright violet chest and is slightly larger than the more common greenish birds. Sean gets some amazing close-up shots of the birds while they are flying about. He knows that hummingbird sound anywhere!
After a while, the hummingbird area gets crowded with tourists and their cameras, so we decide to set out on a long trail by ourselves. We choose a path that passes over a suspension bridge towards the center of the park, then reaches the continental divide and loops back.
Since we already had our rookie outing at Santa Elena, we didn't have to stop and take pictures every two steps. Just every four steps. The rainforest is still spectacular and green and the trees are all covered with moss and vines and epiphytes and drops of rain and mist. The forest is a little bit thicker than Santa Elena, and some of the trees look older. We hear many bird sounds and insect buzzing, but we don't see any animals.
We're out in the forest for a few hours. We only pass a handful of people; most of the time is spent talking to each other and taking artsy photos and listening to the water drip. There is a constant fog mist that keeps all the plants wet. Because we are under the tree canopy, we don't feel the drizzle. We do see two trees that have fallen over recently. One of them is completely covering the trail.
We reach the continental divide at about 1:30pm. There are two lookout points, one that faces west and one that faces southeast. When we arrive, they are both covered in clouds. But we are patient! And we want a cool timelapse! So we dutifully wait for the wind to blow the clouds away and are rewarded with some cool views. The wind blows ferociously on the southern side of the mountain. The clouds are constantly curling around the valley and over the ridge. The weather changes several times while we photograph - from cloudy to sunny to drizzly back to sunny and then a heavy rain begins to fall.
The rain gets harder and harder, and pretty soon it is pouring and we have to head back to the entrance of the park. We chose to return on a more popular trail, and it is pretty wide and flat for the most part. We wear our rain jackets and hoods, but eventually the rain soaks through. My shorts are wet and my socks are starting to get wet and I'm cold and we try to hustle so that we make it back before the light disappears. The sun sets here at 5:30, but because of the cloud cover and the forest cover, it get darker in the forest even earlier. The park closes at 4:00. We make it back to our car with 20 minutes to spare. There are several other cars in the parking lot, and we congratulate ourselves for not being as stupid as we were the other day in Santa Elena.
We are tired and wet and our feet hurt. We are so happy to have a nice hotel room with hot showers and robes.
