February 20-21—Monteverde Preserve, Skywalk and Bats

Two days have flown by.  We drove 4 hours from San Jose to Monteverde with several stops on the way.  The countryside changed from dry, golden grasses and deciduous forest to mountain top greens of the tropical rain forest.  We looked off to see several volcanoes and mountains surrounding San Jose.  The are seven active volcanoes in Costa Rica, which is the size of West Virginia.  One of the largest active volcanoes is handicap accessible into the crate—how is that for tourist friendly?  It is warm and sunny, low 70’s which cool breezes.  As we climbed toward the cloud forest, it is unusually clear but the storm that hit NYC a few days ago will make it’s way down here soon to bring high winds, the clouds, and rain.  By that time we should be headed down the mountain to the pacific port where we catch the boat.

Lunch at the hotel and then off to the Preserve which was developed for research but is open to tourism.  We started at a hummingbird viewing area where they have feeders and the local birds come to show off.  It was fun standing there as they buzzed past your ears and hovered at the feeders.  The colors and variations were breathtaking.  It was hard to leave there for our planned walk.  Walked about 1 1/2 miles through the lush green forest to a waterfall.  On the way we saw a coati which looks like a scraggly raccoon, ficus trees in varying stages of overtaking and killing their host trees, eventually leaving a hollowed out core where the tree once was, an incredible number of orchids, following plants, ferns, air plants and one quetzal with beautiful colors and long tail feathers.  No bugs.  The rain forest in rich in diversity but has few individual members of any species—that was the explanation we got for the lack of bugs.  We love it.  Also surprising was the lack of visible birds on the walk.  We could hear them but very few were seen.  Back to the hotel for a beautiful sunset and dinner.

Some hardy souls, not us, got up at 5:15 to go track the quetzals—they saw 8 total, four males and four females.  We started our day later with breakfast before leaving for the skywalk on the back side of the preserve.  We choose the shorter hike of a 1 1/2 miles and 4 suspension skywalk crossing—did we mention Nancy was close to terrified.  Choosing the shorter trip put us a the longest and highest bridge first, what a way to start.  High above the canopy of the forest, it crosses a ravine where you look down on the gardens that live in the tree tops.  Nancy did not see these on this bridge—eyes straight ahead ignoring all but the sight of the middle tower and the other side. She made it.  The bridge sways and bounces but is really quite safe and modern compared to many of this style bridge.  The next two were easier and we both enjoyed the views from these, though lower and shorter.  Did we mention that we could have done a ten section zipline but opted for the more terrifying bridges.  

Lunch in town with a few minutes before hand to walk around, mostly tourist shops and restaurants.  Off to a bat farm/museum.  We were not expecting to enjoy it, but found the information and the bats to be fascinating.  Learned about different species all over the world and the importance of bats to the ecosystems in which they live.  We got to view fruit and nectar bats which can be held in captivity unlike other species who require tons of mosquitos or bugs to eat.  Nectar bat tongues are 1 1/2 times the length of their body—what if your tongue was that long!  They pollinate just like bees and many plants rely exclusively on the bats for pollination.  Bat pups are born at 1/3 the weight of the mother, think about that for humans as well.  Inside in the simulated night, the bats were active and fed while we were there so we saw them in flight, hovering by food, hanging, eating and sleeping.  We may buy or build a bat house for our woods when we get home.

Monteverde was founded by a group of American Quakers, more on that next time.  We met one of the founders and heard his story.  At age 92 he entertained us for about an hour.  We just finished dinner and are headed to bed.  Off in the morning to the ship—about 4 hours drive, and then we begin our adventure at sea.  Here is a little bit of information about the ship:

Our ship is the NG Sea Lion.  She takes 62 guests and is 152 feet long.  There is library, a little global market and a lounge with facilities for films and slideshows and daily recaps.  There is an observation deck and a sun deck.  We have been on her before in the Baja staying in a top, far forward cabin right behind the bridge.  We have moved down and back to accommodate Nancy’s tendency toward sea sickness.  What Sue does not understand is why Nancy can conquer traveling with sea sickness and be nervous about the skywalk.  There is a chance she can control her sea sickness, it is questionable about controlling fear. We have a NG photographer onboard, Kike Calvo—he has been in NG, Time etc. We look forward to the opportunity to hear about his experiences and to interact about trip photography at all skill levels.