back from the mountains

We just returned today from the Monteverde area, northwest of San Jose. You drive on fairly good roads for two hours, mostly on the pan-American highway, heading west toward the Pacific. (Except we didn't drive -- we had a cab come and fetch us.) You go through small dusty towns, pass schoolkids in pristine uniforms, and see vegetable sellers by the side of the road. (One man had brought his wares in a wheelbarrow, then laid it against the roadside ditch and waited in it under a tree, as if he was in his living room easy chair.)

As you leave the seacoast area, you enter a mountainous region that is not terribly high, but is extremely vertical. For the last twenty kilometers, you climb and climb on increasingly rough roads. People in this area have cars, but they also have "quads" (four-wheeled motorcycles), and many people get around on horseback. In fact, we saw one man, who must have had strong legs, riding without a saddle -- he just had a blanket between him and the horse.

We ended our ride in a little village called San Luis, where we stayed at the Ecolodge San Luis (more info here). It's owned by the University of Georgia and hosts visiting scholars, students, and some tourists. There are some tico (native Costa Rican) workers, along with young American college graduates, most of whom majored in biology. The ecolodge has a lot of land, some of which borders other protected land.

The ecolodge is up in cloud-forest country. You're in the clouds, though you don't realize it while you're there. But it's almost constantly misting, even when the sun is shining brightly. Everything is moist and shiny all the time. We were glad we brought both hiking boots and rubber boots -- our Teva sandals were fairly useless!

The main building contained a dining room, a porch with rocking chairs from which you could watch the sunset, and a dining hall. Oh -- and a well-stocked library that Robert spent a lot of time in -- he enjoyed reviewing and researching all that we'd seen. We stayed in a spacious cabin, about a ten-minute walk from the main building. They turned the electricity on for only a few hours every evening, but mostly we used natural light, flashlights, and candles. We had our own balcony and it was relaxing to just hang out there.

From the ecolodge, we took some great walks -- an orientation walk through the woods to start to learn to identify plants; a walk around their experimental garden, and their herbal medicine garden; and a longer walk through a farmer's land to a huge waterfall, perhaps the largest (waterfall, not farmer) in Costa Rica. Meeting the farmer was deeply moving; he had a way about him that left me feeling that his open heart had touched mine. We also went on a night walk and found some sleeping birds and sleeping butterflies. There was something very awakening about being outside at night, with only the sounds of the forest around us, relying mostly on natural light.

Yesterday, we left the ecolodge and went to the Monteverde Reserve (more info here), higher in elevation than the ecolodge. Our guide, Melvyn (a Tico), started by saying that some people come to the Reserve hoping to see animals, and when they don't, say that they saw nothing. But, he said, a cloud forest is just full of life, and indeed it was. A single tree can support hundreds of other plants, including orchids and bromeliads. There were so many birds flying around, many that we don't see at home. On our walk, we saw a hummingbird just sitting on a branch, and we saw five resplendant quetzals, truly magnificent birds. The guidebooks had led me to believe that I would never see one in my entire trip. At the end of the tour, we saw a tame coati mundi, who seems to understand that tours end at 10:30 am, at which time it is possible that illiterate tourists may provide snacks.

We then ambled over to the nearby hummingbird gallery. After the majority of tourists cleared out ("oh, it's a hummingbird. cool. Bus is leaving"), we sat and watched many species come to the ten or so feeders and drink their fill.

Later, we went to an attraction called "Sky Walk" -- a loop walk that includes walks over six suspension bridges. The point is that you're walking at or above tree level, so you can become aware of the amazing plant life in the canopy. It was stunningly beautiful, though I must admit that I found it challenging. I have a fear of heights, especially of being able to look down and see through what I'm walking on. And it's especially hard when my path is wiggling, as it does when others walk on it! Nonetheless, it was a great experience. There weren't that many people out on the trail, and we took it very slowly. I'm grateful that we went. (Robert, whom I sure has other phobias, had no problem with the height, and was seen on several occasions on a bridge on his hands and knees photographing straight down!!)

Finally, we went to the little village of Monteverde and visited a few shops before going back to the lodge. To top off our outstandingly great day, we went running out after dinner to see a sloth temporarily lodged in a nearby tree.

We met some lovely people at the lodge, both people who worked there and other tourists. We were especially delighted to meet Jerry and Nina, a son and mother, and had several delightful conversations with them. Last night, after Jerry had escorted his mom back to her room, he came back and talked to us for a while. I especially enjoyed watching Robert and Jerry converse eclectically for a while; I do hope that the four of us can stay in touch by email.

I don't know what we'll do on subsequent visits, but it's possible we'll return to this area, and possibly to the Ecolodge. There's another, smaller reserve in Santa Elena that I'd like to visit, and I'd very much enjoy going back to the Monteverde reserve.