Monteverde

This time last month, I was saying goodbye to La Fortuna and travelling about another 4 hours on to Monteverde. The journey consisted of a bus, ferry across Lake Arenal where I randomly met a woman from Reading, and then a second bus that climbed up into the "green mountains" taking us to Monteverde. En route we stopped to drop off the group members doing white water rafting and we arrived at our new hotel around noon. We took a wind swept, meandering tour of the town in search of lunch and found a little place that was cheap (did I mention my budget for food was $20 per day?) and picked up a large burrito each. Afterwards we explored the town and I did some shopping. I bought an extra t shirt and a small Costa Rican memento for my travel cabinet back home.

Leaving Arenal volcano behind

Where's the sun gone?

I see blue sky!

On Lake Arenal

Mist coming off the rainforest

Arriving in Monteverde

We were all going on a night walk in the rainforest tonight, but before that we had dinner together. One of the chaps ordered cow's stomach and offered it around, reminding us YOLO - you only live once... I tried it after a bit of persuasion. It was chewy like calamari. Not bad, but not good either! I was quite happy to stick to my salad and banana milkshake.

So the night walk was on the tame side; I would have liked to go deeper into the forest. I could always see lights from buildings around us in the distance and that spoiled the experience for me. However, armed with our torches, we did see an armadillo, a sloth bear, orange kneed tarantula, a green viper snake and an olingo. It wasn't a bad haul for $22. Kevin our guide was a little crazy. I think this activity would have been more fun if there were only two of us going out with a guide. When it comes to wildlife, I'm selfish. I like to have the time to photograph to my heart's content without noise and distraction. Over the years, I've been fortunate to have a lot of private tours and I guess it really spoils me. 

Rainforest terrain

Green viper snake - highly poisonous!

Where that green light is, there's a sloth bear

Tarantula!

Rhinoceros beetle

Golden beetle

Our hotel for the next two nights was Atardecer and cabin style again. Free Wifi communal area near the Reception and dining area. Big breakfast for $7. Seemed a little steep, considering the other places were $5. The rooms were a good size and we were fortunate to have one of the larger bathrooms on the back because of where our room was situated. 15 minutes walk into Monteverde town. It's pretty windy because the hotel is at the top of a hill.