Cloud Forest Adventures

Will the bus ever come???
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So, it happens to be that our 6AM bus was really a 5:45AM bus, and the next bus was at 9AM, but the important part is we made it, with good timing, to Monteverde using public transportation, so take that Tamarindo people with no faith.

So we get to Monteverde, but actually Santa Elena which is where we were sleeping, and decide to go with the good ole Lonely Planet's top budget choice.  We check in, and are "very lucky" because there was only one room left.  We drop our stuff down, go take a shower in the shared bathroom, run back to our room since the way to the shower is outside and it is pretty cold here and finished getting settled.  All of a sudden Gilad starts seeing one fly, then another fly, then another, on the ceiling till we realize there are like 50 of them, all not moving one bit.  Seriously, you could practically pet these flies and they would still not move.  Now flies are one thing, but immobile flies starts to remind you of how detectives in movies use flies to find dead bodies behind ceilings and walls, so we tell the guy working figuring he would have an answer/explanation.  Well this guy walks into the room and starts freaking out and so we decided on moving out.  We then followed L'Mitayel's advice of another newer place called Cabinas Eddy and were happy we did, cause this place was amazing! Clean, with two huge windows facing the forest, a deck, a kitchen, a shower inside, a great owner, and the best part only 10 bucks a night for the both of us.

When watching animals becomes animals watching....

Sarit and the trees
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So we did a lot in Monteverde so here is a short summary.  We hiked the Monteverde Cloud Forest and spotted our own howler monkeys with no help from any guide.  Of course when we spotted them we didn't know they were howler monkeys and thought the howling was coming from the jaguars that were hunting us.  We also saw a big racoon that is called a coari that was running towards us on the path while we were looking at birds in the trees.  Let us just say, there is a fine line between how cool it is that a huge animal is so close and how messed up it is when a huge animal is too close.

Gilad the birdwatcher!
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We actually almost had to hike to the Monteverde Cloud Forest itself after, once again, we missed our bus by 15 minutes.  Sarit luckily hailed down some Costa Ricans on the way there (there is only one road straight up hill) and asked them if we could jump in.  Well the sign for hailing a cab or hitchhiking in Costa Rica must be totally different, because these guys looked like that was the last thing they thought we were going to ask them and kind of gave us a "Well, umm, hmm..I guess..its ok?" Which we took as a "Definitely jump right in!"  I tried to chill everyone out by stating "Don't worry we aren't dangerous," but they didnt' think it was that funny or don't understand English or both.

We also went on a night hike which was cool and saw some tarantulas, porcupines, toucans, and other weird bugs.  We did the canopy tours which is basically a zipline through the jungle which was awesome.  We both even did the tarzan jump which is like a sideways version of bungee jumping.  No one in our whole group wanted to do it, but an 8 year old went first (he of course was yelling how he didn't want to go and the nice guide was like "too bad sonny" and pushed him off) and made us all feel like we had to do it. Sarit was a pro at the ziplining and Gilad was ok, but got some battle scars from spinning around a little.  He even got stuck once and had to have one of the guides pull him out with his legs, a very intimate position to be in for only meeting him an hour earlier..something neither of them were too happy about.

We also met up with a friend of a friend of a friend of a etc. Rachel who is living in Monteverde, had some dinner with her at an awesome veggie restaurant, and learned the secrets of getting hot water and not getting electrocuted in the Costa Rican electric heated showers along with the secret of Costa Rican tofu which we are eternally grateful for.

Finally, it may be worth it to mention we went to the Frog Pond too and that sucked, so don't do it if you every come here.

Tomorrow we are off to our jeep-boat-jeep transportation to La Fortuna to hopefully see some lava action in the active volcanoe...