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| Costa Rica Honeymoon, Fall 2000: Monteverde, Day 14
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Sunday, November 5, 2000: Into the cloud forests!
I wish I could say the day dawned bright and sunny, but I can't. More light drizzle, clouds, mist. And a bit chilly. Brr!
We quite a few birds and many bugs and beetles, including a giant walking stick. At one point, we were able to get a close-up view of a very odd sort of bird (the black guan) that can't fly terribly well, but hops from branch to branch. It looks kind of like a giant black chicken. The funny part is, they're so big and ungainly they often whack into branches as they try to hop. A group of four were hanging out in a tree as we walked by, and we had a great time watching them.
Another great dinner, this time at an authentic Italian restaurant (Pizzaria Tramonti: best pesto we've ever had! What is it with amazing food up here???), and we were asleep by 9 p.m. Big partiers, we are.
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Today was our first big activity-filled day here. We started off with a 7 a.m. (oikes) guided hike in the Santa Elena nature preserve, which was pretty amazing. Talk about dense foliage! The jungle here (actually, it's technically a "cloud forest," not a "rain forest") is so thick there's no way to walk through the undergrowth, at least not without a machete. And (as with everywhere around here, it seems) mud is an issue; I traded in my hiking boots for knee-high rubber boots (they rent them out to tourists for about a buck) and was glad I did when I took my first accidental step off the path and into six-inch-deep muck. I looked stupid, but I stayed a lot drier (and cleaner!) than Dave, who opted to pass the boots up. Heh heh.
We hired a guide to really point things out to us and were very glad we did; had we been on our own, we probably would have missed a lot of interesting things. He showed us how to tell old-growth trees from newer ones, identified birds by birdcall, and led us off into some less-traveled paths. He also revealed that the vegetation, while pretty, is pretty savage; most of the plant species are competing with each other for scarce light, and often grow on other plants in an effort to reach the forest canopy, killing their hosts in the process. Almost every leaf and berry is poisonous; same with the caterpillars and snakes (happily, didn't see any of the latter).
We drove back from the preserve into the sleepy little town of Santa Elena, which appears to have sprung up inside the triangle where three different roads converge. There's one department store, of sorts (it's two large rooms), about a dozen little tourist kiosks where they'll sign you up for excursions, a place to rent ATVs (yeah, that's ecologically sound!), and a variety of hostels, hotels, bookstores, restaurants, laundromats, and the like. David and I wandered into one bookstore in search of some reading for him and struck up a conversation with the owner, an American Quaker who's been here for about a dozen years. Very interesting man. He answered a lot of our questions about the Quakers and also gave us some pointers on interesting things to see and do.
One of those things was the Sky Trek, a tour that's basically a series of suspension bridges and zip lines (cables) strung high up in the forest canopy. We bolstered up our courage, paid for tickets at one of the tourist kiosks, and drove out to the Sky Trek site to give it a whirl. After rigging ourselves with climbing harnesses and hard hats (yes, we looked lovely; we could have been mistaken for technicians looking for a downed power line), we (David and I and a group of about 10 other people) ventured outside, climbed a tower (about 60 feet up), crossed a wiggling suspended bridge, and came to our first zip line. The lowest zip line was about 80 feet above the ground...the highest, almost 600. Yoikes! I was happy to see that not only was the equipment first rate (solid climbing harnesses, secondary safety systems, cables as thick as my arm, solid steel anchors), but the guides were both competent and very patient with big chickens. Like me.
I thought I'd be terrified, but it turned out that I absolutely loved it! As long as you didn't think too much about the consequences if a cable snapped, it was just amazing. It was an amazing sensation to fly over the tops of the trees! There were 12 total zips for us to do, plus two suspension bridges (including one that swayed alarmingly in the wind!). As you flew down some of the zips, you'd swear you were about to bash into a nearby tree, but somehow you always missed them. Guides were on hand on the other end to grab you as you came in for your landing. A few people didn't quite make it all the way to the end of each zip and had to be "rescued" by guides, who climbed out to them hand-over-hand and pulled them in. (Needless to say, I built up maximum momentum and never failed to reach the other end!).
The last zip ride was the scariest and also, fittingly, the highest and longest line. By the time we climbed up to the huge tower anchoring it, the ever-present fog/clouds had rolled in and the line literally disappeared into the mist...we were flying into nothingness! Yep, I think I screamed the whole way. However, we all made it safe, sound, and exhilarated. Not a bad way to spend $35!
Back at the hotel, we caught a glimpse of a fantastical furry creature from our hotel room (I just about knocked myself out trying for a closer look and clunking my head on the big plate-glass window in the process). We bolted downstairs to try to find it, but the elusive creature had vanished into the woods. I swore it was a coatimundi and was very, very excited about the glimpse. David and I hiked some nearby trails and wandered into a nearby ecological preserve. Lo and behold: the rare coatimundi turned out to be not so rare. The preserve was literally awash in coatis (think big furry raccoons with prehensile tails and long, anteater-like snouts) who were ravaging garbage cans, milling about in rollicking groups, and eyeing tourists who just might be there to feed them. Incredibly cute, but (we learned) rather aggressive in groups, especially when they think you might have food. Run away! Run away!