to Manuel Antonio

A two day post

Yesterday I started into the Monteverde cloud forest with high hopes of being surrounded by wildlife but it was not to be, which I sort of expected given various other forays with similar expectations. But this is the most famous cloud forest in Central America so I was curious about what that would be like.

The forest is preserved largely as a result of the efforts of 8 Quaker families from Alabama who settled here after WW2.

As we approached it looked that this. That peak to the left is the summit

Walking in it looks like this

Looking up, it looks like this

In a mud wall was this little bird

And that’s what we saw – birds. Beautiful birds, very shy and way out of range for my little point and shoot.

There were small orchids

I was surprised by the small scale of the trees and the how low the canopy was. This is about 80 feet up

Here’s a nasty bug. If you pick it up it squirts and if it hits you it the face you can’t see for 5 days.

On our way out the cloud started rolling in

And back at the lodge this fellow on a tree

I was underwhelmed by the forest. I guess I’m going to follow the sea. More on this another time – hurrying to get this done and going again this morning.

Then, the next day off to the sea. The track looked like this