The hunt for the resplendent quetzal

The jeep-boat-jeep journey to Monteverde sounded straight forward enough. In fact the first two legs of the journey were seamless with more great views of Vocan Arenal from Laguna Fortuna itself. What we (or, more specifically, mum) didn´t bank on was the final jeep journey along a bumpy track, around countless hairpin bends and alongside steep drops. But with her new spirit of adventure and her new persona as "dangerous Denise", she endured it with a big smile! We were staying at a lovely homestay called Rancha Makena - a working farm run by the friendliest Costa Rican family who couldn´t have made us feel more welcome. That night, driven by Guy´s thirst for red meat, we all headed into nearby town Santa Elena for a slap up steak meal!

We all had an early start the next day as we wanted to get to Monteverde Cloudforest in time for their early morning guided tours. Filled up with a big Costa Rican breakfast, all the family then drove us to the forest - little Mikaila, Rosanna and Carlos (who dad insisted on calling Tony. We´re not sure why!). We made the tour by the skin of our teeth and were bundled into a room where all the other visitors were watching a video on the forest and, bizarrely, what you can buy in the gift shop! We had an excellent guide for our tour called Rolando who had bags of enthusiasm and the best telescope money could buy. As a result, the tour was brilliant. He spotted distant green toucanettes in the trees, homed in on sleeping sloths and hunted out tarrantulas in their holes. His passion for the cloudforest made it such a great experience for us. In the excitement, mum forgot herself and started to walk across a 100m high canopy bridge made of steel mesh! She didn´t quite make it all the way...but watch this space!

After a "perk-us-up" coffee and a photo session with some tame coatimundis, we headed over to hummingbird gallery to test out the close up range on our camera...check out the results at www.gallery.me.com/guypattison. We then went on our guided walk number 2...with Guy as our guide! His eagle eyes and 20:20 vision (with contacts) meant that we saw a whole new batch of birds, including the rare mot mot. Distracted by "twitching", we realised that we had walked further than planned and the only way to make it back before closing was to return via the 100 metre high mesh bridge. This was a big deal for mum as it would test her biggest fear and take a huge amount of courage. With the rest of us making encouraging noises, she bravely agreed to do it. Guy and I had to laugh as, before crossing the bridge, dad was trying to coach her about what to do and where to look. Mum´s reply? "Let´s just get on with it!" And she did. With eyes wide open and a purposeful stride, she set off and cleared the bridge with cool, calm confidence. Forget cloudforest, we were "proud forest"!

Back in the carpark we soon realised dad´s keeness to get back by 4pm. He´d had a good tip off that the Resplendant Quetzal, Costa Rica´s most famous and rarest bird, liked to take an afternoon snack on the avacado trees in the car park. We had heard tales of quetzal hunting and how hard they were to spot (mainly from a man who had spent 3 months in Guatamala looking for them without success), and yet there we were watching a male and female quetzal flit from branch to branch! It was a great spot but one that wouldn´t earn dad any nature points according to Guy´s tough rules! (see his blog http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/prime-meridian).

That night, tired but happy from our day´s spotting, we had planned on a quiet night at the ranch. But family Makena had other ideas. They had asked a local girl to come in and give us a disply of local traditional dancing. We were happily clapping and cheering along until we realised that we were up next. Reminiscent of John Sargeant in Strictly Come Dancing, dad bravely took to the floor with his hat and hankerchiefs. Guy and mum followed with a authentic (if a little haphazzard) version of a Spanish bull fight! I managed to escape by being the official photographer. It was good fun though and a great end to the day. In true Peter Kay / Del Boy Trotter style, Dad then wished the family "buenos nachos" and we turned in for the night!

Our final day together was a much more laid back one. First thing, Carlos (a.k.a Tony) had invited us to help milk the cows, to add another first on mum´s list. After a "tipico" breakfast of eggs, rice and beans - and fresh warm milk - we headed into Santa Elena to look round the town and visit the Serpentario snake farm. It was a bit of an anticlimax after the incredible nature we´d seen in the wild. In fairness to the snakes, they were still warming up so weren´t very energetic. We did spend a pleasant half hour though watching the terrapins and learnt which red, yellow and black snake in Costa Rica was poisonous and which wasn´t. How the winter nights must fly by! Our afternoon was spent editing all our photos for mum and dad to take back with them, while they visited the world´s smallest orchid farm. (The orchids were small, not the farm!)

That night we had signed up for the night walk at Monteverde - our final trip together. We had a harmless (but a bit useless) guide who was trying to help us find exciting night animals with the aid of a flashlight and his night senses! Bat-like they weren´t! He seemed to specialise in small, immobile insects that lived under leaves. After the 15th tiny grub, I was starting to lose Guy who instead was making scary ghost faces with his torch! The night was saved (thankfully) by a rustle in the tree overhead. It was a hairy Mexican porcupine (not a hairy Mexican!). We got to watch it for about 10 minutes climb up and down the trees. Only then was I distracted by a different kind of rustle - Dad emptying the entire contents of his backpack onto the dark forest floor in an attempt to find his binnoculars that he had kept handily at the bottom of his bag! With the added bonus of a screeching owl, the night walk had been saved! Plus we all came away with the new fact that an inch worm is so-called because...wait for it...it is an inch long!

The next morning we said farewell to our new travel buddies - Dangerous Denise and Jungle John - who, like Mark and Suzie, bravely dealt with all we could throw at them and were returning with new adventure tales to tell! We were staying on in Santa Elena for 4 more days, so with a wave goodbye and a promise that we would "be careful", they were on their way.