Monteverde!
Updated: Apr 4
I had been to Monteverde before, in 1987, but my friend and I traveled from San Jose on public transportation. This time I was coming from Arenal. If you look at the map in my last post, you can see how close the two places are—that's as the crow flies! In reality, it was at least a 3 hour drive on tiny back roads. Actually, I just looked it up. The crow-flies distance is only 20 miles! The road was 66 miles, and took us at least 3 hours.
My admiration for our driver, Armando, knows no bounds. At one point, he had to back up several times to line the bus up to cross a one lane bridge across a ravine. It was a lovely drive though.
We stopped in a small non-tourist town (Tilarán) for lunch. As usual, we drove around the town first, and Manfred pointed out restaurants, groceries, ATMs, etc., then they let us go. A bunch of us decided to go for Chinese food, just for something different. I got fried rice and it was pretty good, but even the half order was way too much food. I hit up the ATM and the grocery, then it was time to go back to the bus. Oh, and it was very windy! I had to chase my hat at one point.
Then it was on to Monteverde! On the drive, Manfred talked about the optional tours the next morning, which were ziplining and a canopy tour. I had signed up for the canopy tour, thinking it would be good for wildlife. In the afternoon, I planned to walk around Monteverde on my own, something I had done on my first visit many decades ago. Manfred mentioned, though, that there would be not be many birds or animals on the canopy walk. 😮 After he’d finished his spiel, I waved him back to my seat (still near the back of the bus, but moving up) and told him my plan to walk on my own, and that I was disappointed about the canopy walk. I asked if he knew of any private guides in the area. He said he’d call some people.
Bingo!! He came back with news that a guide he knows, Roy, was available the next morning. If I wanted to do it, Roy would pick me up at 6 AM and take me birding until around 11 AM for $120! I said YES so fast I startled Manfred. That is a good price, by the way, for a private birding guide for 5 hours. Also, going around with a guide who knows the area and where to find the birds is priceless. So I was a very happy camper!
The hotel at Monteverde was called El Establo, and, like the Arenal hotel, it was also on a mountainside. Our group was in a building about halfway up the mountain. (This time, by the way, I did take the shuttle bus up the mountain, though I walked down a couple of times.) The room was spectacular! It was enormous, with ceilings that were probably 15-18’ high. It was at least half the size of my house, I think, with a view looking out over the green mountains to the Pacific Ocean. I opened the huge window when I got there, and it stayed open every time I was in the room. The staff here was wonderful and incredibly helpful, no matter what you needed.
There was an optional night walk that evening, and I signed up for it. It was pouring rain the entire time, but I’m still glad I did it. We did see a few things, like a sleeping hummingbird and two sleeping summer tanagers, several small frogs, two tarantulas, and some interesting insects. I had brought my UV flashlight, and saw a couple of scorpions as well.
After the hike, I took my soaking wet self to the hotel restaurant for the only bad meal of the trip. The seafood soup and bread were good, but the tuna was tough! I don’t think I’ve ever had tough tuna. The waiter was apologetic, and they took $10 off the bill, but it was very disappointing.
I got up bright and early the next morning (Wednesday, 12/13) and walked down the road to meet my guide at 6 AM. The walk was steep, but worth it, as there were some lovely birds along the way, like a Lesson’s motmot (I’ll put some good pictures from later in the day below—the light was too low so early to get good shots.) While I was waiting for Roy to arrive, a possum decided to dash back and forth in front of me. It would go one way, see a person walking, and turn the other way. This happened several times before it just went over the wall. This was a common opossum, not the Virginia opossum that we have at home. (And, yes, it was raining.)
The time with my guide, Roy, was wonderful! The weather, however, was not. We had the mist of the cloud forest most of the time, a little sun, and some harder rain. But I’d dressed for the weather, including my waterproof boots, so all was well. We went first to the Monteverde Hummingbird Gallery near the entrance to Monteverde.
I need to write an aside about feeding hummingbirds in Costa Rica. When I was there before, I had a great time sitting under the feeders at Monteverde watching the hummers come and go. Now, however, Costa Rica has made it illegal for businesses (anything commercial) to have hummingbird feeders, as feeder-fed birds are less heathy than those that do not eat at feeders. Apparently, there is science to back up this ban, though I haven’t looked it up yet myself. Supposedly, feeder birds have much larger livers than “wild” birds, and they do not live nearly as long. As I said, I’m going to look this up. So, there may be feeders at private homes, but not at businesses. Roy said that the Monteverde Hummingbird Gallery had to fight to keep their feeders up.
We saw 6 or 7 species there. There were many green-crowned brilliants, plus 6 other species. The light was poor, unfortunately, but I did get some good shots. I also did a slo-mo video, which turned out well.
From there, we went down the road to a cafe for coffee and pastry. There were platform feeders there with fruit on them, and I got some lovely photos, including the aforementioned motmot.
Next we went to the Curi-Cancha Reserve, a private reserve in Monteverde. Roy said this was the best place for birds in the area, and I certainly didn’t complain! There were forests, open hillsides, and gardens. I saw so many different birds. And we ran into several other guides with their one or two clients. It was still windy, so we stayed out of the deep woods. Another guide told Roy he’d had a tree fall near his clients that morning, and so we decided it wasn’t a good risk. However, there were plenty of habitats to explore!
Another guide had found a snake, and pointed it out to us. This was my only snake of the trip, though I looked for them everywhere.
Finally, it was time to head back, but I was well satisfied with the morning. My only problem came when I downloaded the pictures to my iPad and discovered that about 30 minutes worth of images just were not there. I don’t know if it had to do with the rain or what. I was upset at the time, but I’m feeling more philosophical now.
I was back at the hotel in time to join the group for lunch and a tour of a coffee plantation. Lunch was good (chicken, beans, and salad). BTW, I started out by being very careful with food and water, but I got over it. Manfred had said that the food and water was all safe in Costa Rica, and I think it much have been true, as no one got sick. I started drinking tap water toward the end.
The coffee plantation was interesting, but not my thing, as there were few birds and animals. I did buy a hat in their gift shop, as I had forgotten to bring mine and the sun was hot! From there, it was back to the hotel, where I had a massage. We then got on the bus and headed out to dinner. I think this was a seafood night, but it’s all running together. If I remember, I put it in later.
The next morning (Thursday, 12/14) was a late-ish start, as we had to be on the bus at 8:30. I managed to traumatize myself though by being stupid. I was looking ahead to Friday, when I had a day trip to Nicaragua. To get back into Costa Rica from Nicaragua, I needed proof of my flight leaving Costa Rica, so I opened the American Airlines app and took a screenshot of my flight information. Then I stuck my phone back in my pocket and moved on. A few minutes later, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to take a picture, and there on the screen was the message, "You have successfully canceled your flight." 😱 Immediate panic!! Somehow, I guess I managed to push the cancel button and the confirmation button! In my pocket!
So, it was 40 minutes before I had to be down at the front desk (at the foot of the hill!). I hadn't packed my carryon yet. I still needed to check out of the hotel! I called American, and the wait time was 30-40 minutes. I paced and packed as I waited. Then I decided to start a chat through the app on my iPad. Instant response! After I explained, the person said they had to talk to someone else, but that it would be okay. I swear I was hyperventilating. I was so upset! After about 10 minutes, all was well. They were able to restore my flight. Whew!!! (They told me the seat was restored too, and I swear I saw it on the app, but when I checked in for the flight, I had no seat. So, I had to pay another $60 to get my extra legroom seat—I got the same seat I had already paid for, but I guess that is the price I paid.)
So, I made it down to the bus in time, and we were off to Guanacaste, in the far northwest of the country.
I mentioned to many rainbows of Monteverde, so here's one to finish this post.
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