Stopover in Cerro Plano

My room at the Manakin Lodge
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The Interbus driver was right on time.  I was the only customer, but another driver was catching a ride to the Monteverde area, where he lived.  I could have caught a bus from San Jose to Monteverde for about $7 (a Greyhound-type bus), but with my large suitcase I’d just decided to take it easy.  I sat in the front seat and had a wonderful view of the countryside on the 3-hour ride.  The good roads were curvy, and when we left them for pot-holed gravel roads (still curvy), I was very glad I had not rented a car.  We made a rest stop at a gift shop about half way to Monteverde.  I suppose tourists liked the opportunity to stop and shop, but I saw nothing I wanted.  That was a good thing, since I had no extra room in my suitcase.  The roads were terrible until we reached Santa Elena, the only real town near Monteverde.  Their roads were paved, but only inside the town.  I asked the driver to stop at a pharmacy so I could buy some malaria pills.  I’d taken two at home and planned to buy the rest in Costa Rica.  However, the pharmacist didn’t have the same kind.  He said I didn’t need them anyway, since there was no malaria in the vicinity.  Back in the minivan shuttle, we headed up the mountain to Cerro Plano, a community between Santa Elena and Monteverde.  That’s where Manakin Lodge was located.  I’d read a good recommendation in a birding trip report from several years ago, so I’d made reservations there.  The owner came out to meet me when we pulled up.  She showed me the room I’d reserved and then showed me a larger one that faced the forest for more money.  The latter one better fit the description of the one I’d reserved, and the owner decided to let me have it for the same price of  $30, including taxes and breakfast.

Outdoor dining in the gardens of Monteverde Lodge
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I decided to try to walk back to Santa Elena.  They had a large supermarket and I planned to buy some bananas to put on my balcony to attract the monkeys that the owner said might come.  It was a steep walk downhill and I knew I’d have to return by cab.  When I came to a crossroad I went the wrong way and ended up at the Monteverde Lodge, a lovely high-end resort.  That was the best thing that could have happened.  I birded their beautiful and extensive trails all afternoon, stopping only for a late lunch at one of their outside tables.  The food was delicious and looked as elegant as that served by chefs on the Food Channel at home.  The hotel called a cab for me to return to Manakin Lodge, sans bananas.  I took a lukewarm shower and went to bed early, but I was awakened during the night by gale force winds and rain.

Pitching hay
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By morning the rain had subsided and I went looking for birds.  I passed some men mowing down a hayfield with a weed-whacker.  Then one would collect pitchforks of hay to throw into a waiting truck.  The loads were so great I wondered at his ability to carry them.  I decided to return to the Monteverde Lodge, since I could imagine no better place to bird.  However, there were fewer birds than the day before, maybe because of the storm.  I added only ten to my list, but two were life birds.  While I was birding, one of the staff showed me a sloth asleep high up in a tree.  I also saw an agouti.  The hotel had a Jacuzzi inside a glass building that looked sooo inviting to my tired feet.  Ah, well.  Maybe next trip, if I wanted to pay over $100 a night.  I returned to Manakin for a late breakfast.  The owner invited me into the kitchen to eat if I wanted.  She was there with a cook, her children, and a boyfriend.  I could have whatever I wanted so I chose pancakes and fried plantains.  When I was ready to go the rest of the way up the mountain to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, the owner said she would drive me rather than calling a cab.  That was fine with me; it cost 4000 colones either way (about $7).  The road was even worse the rest of the way up (if possible).  The owner said she used to be a guide at Monteverde and would regularly jog up the mountain to work.  She was still energy-filled these many years later, so I didn’t doubt it.  We passed the Friends’ Meeting House and School and their Cheese Factory on the way up.  These were the people who began the settlement at Monteverde.  The ride only took about 20 minutes.