Zipline and canopy walk

This morning we took it easy and decided to go on ziplining through the cloud forest at 10:30PM. I was a bit excited and at same time little worry as I never done ziplining before, but it sounded fun. The package include a Tarzan swing and I heard from other people who have gone before that it included a big drop from a platform, knowing I don't like roller coaster stomach drop, this worried me the most.

Before the van came to pick us up, I went to walk around the town (Santa Elena) a little (to new street I had not walked before). I stumbled into a Saturday morning farmer's market. It was ok, and Diego and his band was there playing as well as Vanessa picking up few things for her dinner. I took some photos of the market and was approached by a girl asking if I can send her my photos so she can use to promote the market. I told her that I need to leave now as van is coming soon, and will send her what I got when I get back home.

There were couple from Germany from the hostal also going the same zipline company while some people from the hostal went to the most extreme version without the canopy walk. Once we arrived the place, we rented a locker to put our belonging into and put on rain jacket as the forest was total in the mist. There was no rain and wind was calm, and temperature just fine. There were people went a day before and they were soaked due to the wind and rain. We got our helmet, straps/clip/pulley, and gloves, and was on way to the instructional area where the instructor showed us the in and out of proper ziplining. He also asked if anyone want to have taxi ride: where an instructor zip tandem with the afraid person. 5 people wanted the taxi ride. In our group there was a big group of most old people (volunteers from a Methodist church from Minnesota), and another group of girls from NYC.

As we lined up for our first platform, the taxi riders get to go first, but couple of the girls from NYC who wanted taxi ride freaked out and said they don't want to do it anymore. So the rest of the group went ahead. Since we are in the mist, we can't see where end of line is, so we were all zipping into a blanket of white and trees. When it was my turn, I just hope the speed will not be too fast as I am not afraid of the height. The first line was a warm up, so it wasn't too fast and I was happy that I was not scared and shaking before and afterward :)

The next couple lines got a little fast, but nothing people can't handle. The two scared girls from NYC did show up eventually, and everyone gave them a cheer! For one of the line we zipped through the whiteness, and then suddenly below us the tree tops appeared, and we are zipping atop of the forest! It was an amazing feeling!

We were told there was a bottle neck on the lines where the two groups in front of us was causing a traffic jam, and were told the wait might an hour or so, so they had us went on a shorter route of 11 lines total instead of the 13. After the 8th line, we arrived at the Tarzan swing. Looking up the 8 meters or so platform (with more drop below the platform), I questioned myself if I wanted to do it. So I waited to see what it is like with other people go first. With most of the old people doing it as well Vanessa, I decided I should not embarrass myself in front of them and will go for it. Vanessa asked me to take a video of her jump with her camera, and I did. After that I asked Vanessa to do the same for me on my Canon 7D, it will be my first video of the trip. When it was my turn to jump off, I was a bit nervous, and jump off with my eyes closed. I was scared silence on the drop, then I realized it wasn't that bad, and opened my eyes and let out a small cheerful yell.

When we finished our last 3 lines, we dropped off our equipments and had a quick snack break and started our canopy bridges walk. With the calm and super foggy condition, the walk among and above the forest was serene! It took us about 50 minutes for the walk. We got back just in time to catch the 3PM shuttle back to town. Overall it was a great experience!

After we got back to town, I went across the street to have fast a food lunch. Vanessa and I agreed to meetup at 7:30 for dinner. After my late lunch I went for a shower. At 7:30 I met Vanessa at the lobby. We had want to goto the Japanese restaurant near by, but was told by couple people that it was deserted last night. Figure that is not a good sign and especially a sushi place, we decided to try some place else and luckily someone suggested a couple of places near by and we off to get a proper and none local meal.

The restaurant was called Morpho´s, name of a beautiful butterfly common in Costa Rica. The price is on par with US, but I figure it was ok to splurge one night. I had blackberry sauce pork chop with papaya juice for drink, and Vanessa had Dijon chicken with white wine. I paid for the dinner figure that Vanessa had kept me company for few days, it was time to show some appreciation and besides I could afford it easily :) After dinner we agree to meetup again at 10 to goto the restaurant/bar/club that has become common to us.

There was no live music this night, the music was nice though, and at urging of Vanessa and Diego, I got on the floor for 1 hr or so of dance. At midnight, I called it a night and said goodbye to Vanessa as she is leaving at 6AM for the beach, and I am sure won't be out the bed at that time, but probably will be awake though.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

This morning Vanessa and I got up early to catch the 6:15AM public bus to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. It was hard to get up at 5:30AM after a late night of dancing. Previous day we went to the market to get something for sandwich, and this morning we stop by the bakery next to the bus stop to grab quick stuff for breakfast.

The weather this morning was calmer than the day before, the wind was less strong and the mist-rain less intense.

We arrived at the reserve around 7 and while we were waiting for the office to open, some tour guide motioned us to to come to the parking lot and there were couple of the elusive and beautiful quetzal birds : a male and a female. It is difficult to see a quetzal, and we were happy to see it so close!

We decided to go with a guide from the park, while couple people from the hostal got a private tour guide. We should have gone with the private tour guide as our group is big with 9 people and the guide spend half the time chit chatting with the group. During the tour, we spot couple more quetzals but it was farther away and one needs a binocular to see it. The guide mentioned of all the tree in the reserve, 80% are some sort of avocado tree, and each tree to host up to 200 different plants on it. I was hoping to see some monkeys and sloths, but no luck with it this morning. Another interesting fact about the cloud foreast is that since it is wet all year around, the grow season is all year so no tree rings are formed, so they have to use carbon dating to calculate a tree´s age.

After getting back to the entrance, we decided to take a lunch break and make our sandwich. After lunch we went back on the trail by ourselves to hike to the La Ventena (the window) that in a clear day one can see both the Caribbean and the Pacific from this continental divide. Of course with whole reserve covered in the mist and cloud one could barely see beyond 30 feet. Also on the Caribbean side there was strong wind while one the Pacific side, it was calm.

After the view point, we made our way back the entrance and decided to check the near by Hummingbird garden. We were presented so many hummingbirds feed on the sugar water hanging near the building. I took many photos, but the birds are so fast, I only got few ok photos. There was one guy with huge telephoto lens and a big flash, and some of his photos looked great with birds hovering mid air - a really difficult capture. We saw may be 4 species of the birds there.

After the hummingbird viewing, we caught the 3PM bus to get back to Santa Elena. I decided I want to do a nighttime walk to see some insects and creatures, while Vanessa had enough information overload from today´s hike.

The van came around 5:30 to pick me and other tourists from Pension up. I had my macro lens and tripod with me. They offered each us a small flash light, I opted for my own headlamp as it gave me free hands to toy with my tripod and camera. On our group was Maria who also liked insects and night time walk. She and couple other girls (Stephine, and Iris) are volunteering in a organic farm in near by El Castillo and they are on their 3 day break (Stephine is done with her volunteering and will head to the beach with Vanessa on Sunday).

During the night walk, we spot sleeping Emerald Toucan and was told this Toucan will eat other birds eggs and young chicks, especially the quetzal's - a bad bird! We also spotted sleeping hummingbird, and green viper high up on the tree, very difficult to spot if you don´t know what to look for. We spot couple strange and well camouflaged insects. The highlight of the tour was the spotting of couple two clawed sloth and orange kneed tarantula! The sloths looked like giant fur ball and moving very slowly up on the tree. And the tarantula looked spectacular and big as human hand. I really enjoyed this very productive night hike.

Back at the hostal, Vanessa was getting ready for another night time party at the same place last night, this time jazz/blue music. I was tired from early start this morning, but decide to check it out with Stephine and Iris a little later. Maria was too tired to go, they are getting up to the reserve next morning like we did this morning. We got there around 10:15, the music was nice but a bit loud. after 30 or so minutes Stephine and Iris decided to call it a night, and I was soon to follow. As I got back to my room, I could hear the music from the restaurant!

A little word about the party/music restaurant, there are also some local guys hanging around hope to score with the women tourists. A guy was onto Iris both night :)