Visit from Linda & Marty, Part II: Monteverde

Amy and David at dinner at "Essencia" just outside of Ciudad Colon. Thanks to Linda and Marty for a wonderful meal!

Look at the mischief in those eyes!

Mom and Dad on enjoying the canopy of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve from a suspension bridge, it was about 100 feet down from this one.

Howler monkey!

The Maginficent Quetzal female...a stunning bird!

Orange kneed tarantula in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Marty "enjoying" a baby boa at the Serpentario :-)

Amy with a baby Boa constrictor.

The view of the Nicoya peninsula from the road going down from Monteverde.

This was my (David’s) third trip to Monteverde, but this magical place deserves several return visits, especially because my last two visits were either short or were mostly work oriented. In short, it was a great trip, and we felt extremely spoiled and pampered by the tour company “Costa Rica Expeditions.”

So, we left on Thursday bright and early in the morning to drop off the rental car and get picked up by the tour company at a hotel in Santa Anna. Our personal van was there right on time, and we had our own guide just to interpret and answer questions on the drive up to Monteverde. I don’t really need to repeat it here, as all the guide books already go on and on about it, but the road to Monteverde is an experience. I have arrived via three different types of transportation, and I have to say that riding in this small van was the least comfortable of any of them. The last 35 Kilometers of the ride takes about two and a half hours, and is just plain BUMPY!!! Let’s just say it was a relief to get out, especially to the extremely pleasant environs of our hotel, the Monteverde Lodge; a nice place with nice service, good food, and decent accommodations. As always, the climate and the environs of Monteverde were just right…not too hot, not too cold…

The first afternoon, David, Marty and Linda went for a walk/hike in the next-door private reserve. While we didn’t see too much wildlife, it was still pretty neat to walk through the forest as the clouds rolled in. Not wanting to get stuck out in the dark, we turned back after about an hour. Upon returning to the hotel we enjoyed a few cocktails, shootin’ the bull with the bartender, and then on to a gluttonous meal. Yum.

The next morning we went up to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve to go on a guided hike with our guide Carlos. Amy came along too, and was such a trooper! She didn’t go on the entire hike, but she did manage to absolutely stun many other tourists with her refusal to just sit at the hotel. She managed to crutch herself around to a few spots, and had the pleasure of being swarmed by hungry hummingbirds who were waiting for the ranger to fill their feeders. Meanwhile, Linda, Marty and David were enjoying their guided tour from Carlos, who was perhaps more into birds than Marty and Linda. He was so excited to see groups of birds together, shouting out “Mixed flock, mixed flock!” It was pretty fun to see someone who does this all the time still into his job. He also worked very hard to try and bring us a male Quetzal, for which Monteverde is world famous, but we did not see him. However, we were all happy to have seen a female. During this hike, David also realized that mammals just don’t do it for his parents, as they both seemed pretty underwhelmed to see the Howler monkeys, and the orange kneed tarantula was only mildly entertaining to them. To each their own, I suppose. All in all, it was a good tour to the Cloud Forest Reserve, much better than the last one I joined.

The next morning we were off to the Serpentario (serpentarium) to see SNAKES!!! We had a private tour of the facility since no one else was there (it is a shoulder season, not quite high season yet). For a small place, the Monteverde Serpenatrio had a very nice collection of snakes, frogs, toads and lizards. It was a pretty cool tour, and Amy seemed to enjoy seeing her totem animal up front. Oh yeah, we were able to see the infamous terciopelo (Fer de Lance), so we now have a visual idea of what to look for since they are supposedly all over the place where we live.

So, in the afternoon we packed up and caught a ride back into San Jose, and then a taxi back to the house. Marty and Linda left the next afternoon, after some delays… All in all, it was a GREAT visit with them. We enjoyed sharing Costa Rica with them, and it was pretty obvious that they are looking for any excuse (and the time) to come back in the near future. Oh yeah, one other thing I have to say, I was truly impressed with the amount of Spanish both of them had learned, and their desire to learn more. I know they would learn it pretty quick if they were down here for a while. Costa Ricans really appreciate any effort to speak Spanish, and I think the efforts they put forth made their trip that much better.

OK, I hope this update finds you all doing well.

Abrazos,
David (and Amy)