The boat went across a lake which was manmade, named Arenal Lake. Then we picked up a van to take us the rest of the way. The driver stopped at one point. He only spoke Spanish so I couldn't understand. Apparently he saw a two toed sloth go up the tree. He let us get out to see it.
We got to Saint Elena and most of the people got off there. We were going to the Monteverde Preserve, which is right in the rain forest. We are staying in a hut type of place with bunks. Bill decided to join us. I look out from my bed and see the forest. It is unbelievable. I hope to see some animals.
We had a buffet lunch with beef, chicken, mashed potatoes, rice, and beans. It was very good.
We couldn't walk into the park without paying so we walked down the street to the cheese factory. We forgot it was Sunday so we couldn't see the tour, but we could get ice cream.
The cheese factory was started by Quakers that had moved from the states to here in 1951. The reason that they moved was because Costa Rica had abolished its Army. They came and named it Monteverde.
The Quakers had cows that they were going to try to sell the milk for a living. The problem was that the milk had turned sour by the time they got it to town. They decided to make it into cheese. It was the first business in Monteverde.
We walked back to the hut. We ran into a woman that was from Northampton. She is here for two months. We asked about the weather and she said it was better than it had been. Today it was rainy and windy and then the sun would come out and it would be hot. Most of the time it is rainy and misty.
Before we got back to the hut we stopped at the hummingbird gallery. It had a bunch of feeders and there were lots of hummingbirds. They were all different sizes and colors. They were beautiful.
We were told that dinner would be at six. I hadn't heard any people. I was beginning to wonder if everyone went home and we were the only people here. We went down stairs and saw another couple. They had stayed here before and they knew the ritual. The couple was from the Netherlands and their names were Maya and Eric.
The plates were on the table covered with foil. They left all the food there and we just had to heat it up in the microwave. We were the only five people here. It was a little eerie.
We had rice, beans, and chicken. The plate was way too much food, but I managed to eat it all. I felt overly stuffed.
There was a guided night hike through the forest which we did. We had five people total in our group. We used flashlights trying to find creatures. My flashlight wasn't very bright so I had a hard time spotting anything. To tell you the truth, I don't think I would have spotted anything. They were either too small or they blended in so well with the surroundings. We saw frogs, kakydids, walkingsticks, and some other things. At one point the guide had us shut off our lights. We then put our hands on the shoulder of the person in front of us. We then walked along looking for things that glowed. We saw glow worms, mushrooms that glowed and also fungus that was on leaves. It was pretty neat. Our guide also found a couple of birds that were sleeping in the trees. One looked like a round colorful butterfly that was also sleeping. It was about the size of my palm and the markings made it look like a owl. The last place the guide took us to was a tarantula's home. It was an orange ring tarantula. It was about the size of my hand. The guide found a cricket to get the tarantula to come out. It was beautiful. It had 10 legs. It was so cool to see it. Its home was a hole in the dirt. The whole was about 3" wide. The guide said it can be about 10 feet deep. I wish I had my camera with me to take its picture.
The walk was about 2 1/2 hours. It was great.
January 12, 2004
Laurie and I took a three hour hike this morning through the rain forest. We didn't see any animals. We went back to our room and rested. We later went out for an afternnon walk. We were hoping to see the guetzals. These are colorful birds in this area. We didn't see any, but Laurie did spot a monkey in the tree.
This walk turned to be a wet one. We were pretty wet when we were done. It felt good to have a hot shower.
The couple from the Netherlands left, but there were some new people that checked in, but we didn't see them at dinner.
I went to bed early. Laurie and I decided to sleep outside on the balcony. It was such a nice night
January 13, 2004
It felt really good to sleep outside last night. It made me realize how much I miss it. I woke up to the birds singing.
Laurie and I decided to go for a walk before breakfast. It looked like it was going to be a good day.
After breakfast, I packed my bags. We were leaving the pack and going to Santa Elena. It is not far from the park, but we were going to do some things in the area.
The first thing that we were going to do was go "ziplining". This is were you are attached to a cable that goes from one station to the next. We put on hemlets, gloves, and harnesses. We had a steep and scary walk up this tall tower for our first ride. I was surprised that I wasn't scared. The first ride was short and kind of a trial run. There were 11 cable runs and when we got off one we had to walk to the next which was usually higher.
We had 11 people in our group. Our main guide was Marco and he was fun. The highest cable was at 430 feet, the longest ride was 2400 feet. Some of them you had to double up to gain speed to make sure you got all the way to the other side. If you didn't make it, you would have to pull yourself along the cable. It was really windy and sometimes that would slow you down.
