Amy has wanted to go to Monteverde for years. When it became apparent that Isla de Ometepe wasn't quite what we had anticipated, we decided to add the extra day to our stay in Monteverde. And we are so glad we did!
It took us about 2.5 hours to drive from Tamarindo to Monteverde. The drive from Tamarindo to Liberia is easy, and we took the main highway out of Liberia, which is equivalent to any interstate in the U.S. However, the route from the main highway to Monteverde is a torturous, narrow, and extremely steep road that is full of ruts, pits, boulders, and loose rocks. We were very thankful to have a four wheel drive vehicle.
We gained altitude very quickly, and the vegetation changed noticeably as the temperature dropped from the sweltering 95 degrees of the lowlands to a much more comfortable high-70s low-80s. We actually stayed in Santa Elena, the much larger village to the west of Monteverde. The village of Monteverde was founded by American Quakers who were avoiding the draft for the Korean war in the 1950s. They started several dairy operations and founded the Monteverde cheese factory. In order to protect their homes and fields, they worked with the local Costa Ricans and several NGOs to protect all of the forests at the top of the watershed. These protected forests eventually became the national parks that everyone visits when they come to Monteverde.
We stayed at a small hotel called Cabinas el Pueblo, which is run by a delightful Costa Rican couple named Freddy and Marlenny. Neither of them can speak any English, but Freddy was great about speaking slowly, simply, and clearly, and I had no trouble understanding or communicating with him.
Monteverde and Santa Elena are at about 5,000 feet elevation, right below the continental divide, on the Pacific side. Moist air flows up the mountain sides from both coasts, and when it hits the peaks, it enshrouds them in mist and frequently results in showers. We got rained on quite a bit, and were grateful for our jackets.
There is so much to see and do in Monteverde, we didn't want to lose a minute. After getting checked in and sorted out, we asked Freddy to set us up with a night tour in the jungle. He did so with alacrity and we were picked up at our hotel at 6:00. We drove over to the Monteverde side of the valley and gathered in a small room set up for the departing tours. The guides were all bilingual and were extremely friendly and knowledgeable. We had a female guide (!) the first female guide we'd had anywhere in Central America. She was great, and extremely knowledgeable. Unfortunately the weather was not particularly cooperative, and it was rainy, windy, and surprisingly cold. We saw many interesting insects on our hike, including a HUGE tarantula and several species of walking stick. We also saw a very rare spider called a web-caster. The spider catches its prey by stretching its web in a net across its two foremost legs, then casting them towards its intended victim. Our guide explained that a photographer from National Geographic hired her to find a web-caster so she could document it's unusual hunting technique. It took a couple of days to even find one, and even then, it never placed the web on its forelegs!
We heard what the guide said were likely a couple of different mammal species, but we never saw them. I suspect the weather had a lot to do with the dearth of mammal sightings. The boys enjoyed all of the insects and arachnids, but were starting to feel a bit disappointed that we weren't seeing anything bigger. Then, one of the other guides that was leading his party in the opposite direction on our trail told our guide that he had seen a green palm viper on the side of the next trail. He described its location as precisely as he could, and then we headed off into the darkness to find it. As were walking, it occurred to me that we were walking through the jungle at night to find a venomous snake near the trail at eye level, and that perhaps this was not the safest activity in which to be engaged with our two young children. But curiosity won out, and we all scanned the jungle in search of our reptilian quarry. Even knowing almost exactly where to find the snake, we had a very hard time finding it because they are so well camouflaged and can remain perfectly still. Eventually, I spotted it, right behind our guide. It was a juvenile, and only about half the size of an adult, but still rather dangerous. We all took photos and then continued our hike. We walked by our guide's house, and she nearly stepped on yet another green palm viper, this one even smaller than the first. She said we were quite lucky to see two in one evening. I think the snake sightings made the boys feel better, but they were definitely hoping for at least one mammal.
The next morning we drove to the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde, also known as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. The Preserve is really well organized and staffed. We paid our entrance fee, and the park worker asked us what we wanted to see and how much time we had. We said we wanted to see wildlife and views, he took out a map and highlighted a route that would take about 3 hours and should feature lots of birds and nice views. We stared hiking up through the cloud forest, and it was really magical. Packed with thousands of species of trees, plants, orchid, insects, arachnids, birds, and mammals. It was hard to take it all in! We saw about thirty different species of birds on our short hike (which, for you non-birders, is A LOT). They were all interesting but my favorites were the barbets and the swallow-tailed kites. We hiked up to a vista point where we could see the mountains and watch the clouds rolling in. It was very cool.
Our return hike took us across the famous suspension bridge. We had a good view of the canopy from the bridge, and since it wasn't too busy in the park, we sat down in the middle of the bridge and had a snack. We were munching away when Amy spotted a mammal in one of the trees--it was a porcupine! The Costa Rican porcupines are quite different from the North American variety, their quills are much shorter (a bit like a hedgehogs) and they have a long, prehensile tail! We watched him cruising around for awhile, finished up our snack, and then got back on the trail.
We ran into a couple of fellows from Seattle on the trail (one of them was wearing a UW shirt) and we chatted for a bit. They had been in Monteverde for several days, and recommended that we visit the butterfly sanctuary. We made a mental note of it and continued our hike. We drove back into town, grabbed some lunch, and then headed back to the hotel to relax before our afternoon tour.
Before I describe the next tour, I should explain that our boys are very different when it comes to their interests and enthusiasms. Liam frequently becomes deeply interested in a topic, researches the bejeezus out of it, talks about it incessantly, asks us to help him figure out how to do it, or take him to it, etc (bodhran lessons, chameleons, sailing, fishing, etc) whereas Lochlan very, very rarely expresses a deep interest in...well, pretty much anything. He is content to play with his friends, draw, read, and watch videos. So, when we were planning our Central America trip, he said to us "When we are traveling, I want to hike behind a waterfall, and ride a horse." Given the rarity of this kind of statement from him, we knew we had to make it happen. The hike-behind-a-waterfall happened in Honduras, and we lined up a horse tour for Monteverde.
We were told by Freddy that our guide would pick us up for the horse tour at 3:00. We were waiting in anticipation of the usual, ubiquitous tour van; however, right around 3:00 we heard the clip-clop of several horses. We looked down the street, and there was a caballero riding down the street leading four horses! that's right, he was picking us up WITH THE HORSES. We walked down to the street, he introduced himself as Martin. He picked up Lochlan, plopped him on a horse, handed him the reins, and said "pull up to go, pull down to stop, pull left to go left, pull right to go right. Got it? Si? Bueno!" He did the same thing with Liam. He said nothing to me (maybe he assumed that I just knew what I was doing? I'm sure my body language did not convey confidence). I am not an animal person. I like animals, in an intellectual sense, and I really like watching wild animals in their natural habitats, but I found the prospect of riding a horse for two hours intimidating. I didn't have much time to ruminate on my apprehension, because shortly after Amy was in the saddle, Martin was off at a trot. Our horses were not tied together, and were all responsible for steering them ourselves (!). Fortunately they all seemed like old hands and naturally followed each other, but it was a bit tense riding through the town.
Eventually we made it out into the countryside. The weather was very nice and we had great views of the countryside. I wish I had been able to take some photos from the saddle, but I was so preoccupied with not falling out of the saddle that it was quite impossible to take any pictures. Occasionally Martin would speed up to a quick trot, not quite a gallop, and I must have been doing something wrong, because every time that horse would complete a stride my body would slam down onto the saddle, smashing my nuts and chaffing my legs. It was an exquisitley painful two hours, but Lochlan was on cloud nine so I gritted my teeth and literally hung in there.
We proceeded up a very steep hill, and eventually came to a clearing where Martin tied up the horses to let them rest. He led us a short way through the forest until we came to an enormous ficus tree. These huge trees, also called strangler figs, grow up along the outside of a mature tree, completely cover it in a lattice of branches, and slowly kill it. Eventually the host tree dies and rots, leaving a cylindrical column of branches that looks custom-made for climbing. He had the boys climb up several feet and we took photos. The boys wanted to keep climbing, but the tree is over 200' tall and we did not have any ropes and harnesses.
We got back on our horses and continued our trail ride into the forest. The trees were fairly close together, and we had to take great care in threading our way through them not to smash our knees into the trees. By this point all the horses were sweating profusely, and it was quite a strong aroma. Occasionally one of the horses would take a huge dump, which the boys found quite comical. We eventually made it back to the horses' stable, where Martin took off their tackle. Lochlan asked if he could brush down one of the horses, and Martin very enthusiastically showed him how to do it. Lochlan was so happy! Amy nd I were sore all the next day, but it was worth it just to see the blissful smile on our boy's face.
That night we ate dinner at a most unusual restaurant we'd seen on our first afternoon--it is called the Tree House Restaurant, and it is quite literally in (and around) a giant tree. The food was pretty good too.
The next morning we were up very early for a birding tour. Our guide picked us up at 5:50 am and drove us west once again towards Monteverde. Our guide was Andres, and he was the best guide we had throughout our entire Central America trip. His knowledge of birds was exhaustive, he could ID birds by sound or sight almost instantaneously, and he was lightning fast at setting up the spotting scope so the boys could see the birds. The weather was perfect, and we saw over 40 species in two hours (I have not yet calculated the total, but again, that is a LOT of birds in a short amount of time), including one of the marquee species in all of Costa Rica, the three-wattled bell bird. This bird is unique--it has a white head, a brown body, and three very long black wattles that extend down from the bill. They are members of the cotinga family, but they are much larger and have a distinct call. The males will perch at the very top of a tree, open their mouths extremely wide, and belt out a loud "EEEENK!!!" This makes them easy to spot at this time of year. The first one we saw was a juvenile male. He had the call, but not quite the distinct plumage, and his wattles were on the small side.
We also saw euphonias, a chlorophonia, two species of parrot, several species of tanager, three species of hummingbirds, a keel-billed toucan (that was the most incredible spotting job of the morning by Andres) and many others. In addition to all the birds, we saw a sloth, and found a dead caecilian, one of the most unusual creatures I've ever encountered. They are in the amphibian family, but they look like a giant earthworm and live primarily underground. They bear live young and eat worms and other macroinvertebrates. Andres said we were very lucky to see one, even a dead one.
As the birds wound down their morning activity, our bellies started grumbling, so we headed into the nearby restaurant for breakfast, which was included with the tour. We ate Gallo Pinto (a rice and beans dish) and it was very tasty. We were joined by Andres' boss, Don Carlos, and had a very interesting conversation about Costa Rica's military-free government, their new president, and other aspects of Costa Rican life. They are clearly proud of their country, and it was cool to hear their perspective on Costa Rica's place in Central America.
As we drove back to the hotel, the weather began to turn, and big dark clouds rolled in over the mountains. It started to rain, so we drove back in to Monteverde and visited the Cheese Factory and had some delicious ice cream. We decided to check out the Butterfly Sanctuary the guys from Seattle recommended, and it was really cool!
The place is run by volunteers from the US and Canada, most of whom are in college and are using the opportunity to fulfill the requirements of their degree. Our guide was a Canadian from St. John New Brunswick named Michael. He started our tour by showing us a variety of insects and spiders--tarantulas, beetles, and scorpions. My favorite was the Hercules beetle, an absolutely ENORMOUS flying insect. There was a male and female pair gorging themselves on fruit. Michael explained that they have to eat a lot of fruit in order to generate the energy needed to fly. They are called Hercules beetles because they are so strong--the males will latch on to a female and fly around with them. He said they are strong enough to carry a 5 pound bag of sugar through the air!
Michael showed us several species of pupating butterflies, then took us through the three different butterfly gardens, each of which represents a different habitat type from Costa Rica (primarily dictated by elevation). There were so many beautiful species of butterflies! At the beginning of the tour, he'd handed a plastic tub to Lochlan, and explained that it contained a butterfly that had completed its transformation and was ready to be released into the third garden. The third (and final) garden was huge! Lochlan released the butterfly and Michael finished the tour by showing us a colony of leaf cutter ants that had established itself in a box with a transparent top the Sanctuary had built for them. We've seen leaf-cutter ants throughout Belize and Central America, and I knew they were using the little bits of leaves to grow a fungus that is their primary food source, but it was mind blowing to see it in action.
We cooked and ate dinner in the communal kitchen of our hotel, then sacked out early. We'd only been in Monteverde two full days, but had done four tours and a long hike!
We woke up early the next morning and headed south to San Jose, where we would catch a bus to Panama City.
It took us about 2.5 hours to drive from Tamarindo to Monteverde. The drive from Tamarindo to Liberia is easy, and we took the main highway out of Liberia, which is equivalent to any interstate in the U.S. However, the route from the main highway to Monteverde is a torturous, narrow, and extremely steep road that is full of ruts, pits, boulders, and loose rocks. We were very thankful to have a four wheel drive vehicle.
We gained altitude very quickly, and the vegetation changed noticeably as the temperature dropped from the sweltering 95 degrees of the lowlands to a much more comfortable high-70s low-80s. We actually stayed in Santa Elena, the much larger village to the west of Monteverde. The village of Monteverde was founded by American Quakers who were avoiding the draft for the Korean war in the 1950s. They started several dairy operations and founded the Monteverde cheese factory. In order to protect their homes and fields, they worked with the local Costa Ricans and several NGOs to protect all of the forests at the top of the watershed. These protected forests eventually became the national parks that everyone visits when they come to Monteverde.
We stayed at a small hotel called Cabinas el Pueblo, which is run by a delightful Costa Rican couple named Freddy and Marlenny. Neither of them can speak any English, but Freddy was great about speaking slowly, simply, and clearly, and I had no trouble understanding or communicating with him.
 |
| Our base of operations in Monteverde |
Monteverde and Santa Elena are at about 5,000 feet elevation, right below the continental divide, on the Pacific side. Moist air flows up the mountain sides from both coasts, and when it hits the peaks, it enshrouds them in mist and frequently results in showers. We got rained on quite a bit, and were grateful for our jackets.
There is so much to see and do in Monteverde, we didn't want to lose a minute. After getting checked in and sorted out, we asked Freddy to set us up with a night tour in the jungle. He did so with alacrity and we were picked up at our hotel at 6:00. We drove over to the Monteverde side of the valley and gathered in a small room set up for the departing tours. The guides were all bilingual and were extremely friendly and knowledgeable. We had a female guide (!) the first female guide we'd had anywhere in Central America. She was great, and extremely knowledgeable. Unfortunately the weather was not particularly cooperative, and it was rainy, windy, and surprisingly cold. We saw many interesting insects on our hike, including a HUGE tarantula and several species of walking stick. We also saw a very rare spider called a web-caster. The spider catches its prey by stretching its web in a net across its two foremost legs, then casting them towards its intended victim. Our guide explained that a photographer from National Geographic hired her to find a web-caster so she could document it's unusual hunting technique. It took a couple of days to even find one, and even then, it never placed the web on its forelegs!
 |
| Tarantula |
 |
| Leaf-mimic cricket |
 |
| Centipede |
 |
| A different species of leaf-mimic cricket |
 |
| Green palm viper |
 |
| Ever wondered what the inside of a toucan bill looks like? |
 |
| Leaf caster spider |
We heard what the guide said were likely a couple of different mammal species, but we never saw them. I suspect the weather had a lot to do with the dearth of mammal sightings. The boys enjoyed all of the insects and arachnids, but were starting to feel a bit disappointed that we weren't seeing anything bigger. Then, one of the other guides that was leading his party in the opposite direction on our trail told our guide that he had seen a green palm viper on the side of the next trail. He described its location as precisely as he could, and then we headed off into the darkness to find it. As were walking, it occurred to me that we were walking through the jungle at night to find a venomous snake near the trail at eye level, and that perhaps this was not the safest activity in which to be engaged with our two young children. But curiosity won out, and we all scanned the jungle in search of our reptilian quarry. Even knowing almost exactly where to find the snake, we had a very hard time finding it because they are so well camouflaged and can remain perfectly still. Eventually, I spotted it, right behind our guide. It was a juvenile, and only about half the size of an adult, but still rather dangerous. We all took photos and then continued our hike. We walked by our guide's house, and she nearly stepped on yet another green palm viper, this one even smaller than the first. She said we were quite lucky to see two in one evening. I think the snake sightings made the boys feel better, but they were definitely hoping for at least one mammal.
The next morning we drove to the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde, also known as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. The Preserve is really well organized and staffed. We paid our entrance fee, and the park worker asked us what we wanted to see and how much time we had. We said we wanted to see wildlife and views, he took out a map and highlighted a route that would take about 3 hours and should feature lots of birds and nice views. We stared hiking up through the cloud forest, and it was really magical. Packed with thousands of species of trees, plants, orchid, insects, arachnids, birds, and mammals. It was hard to take it all in! We saw about thirty different species of birds on our short hike (which, for you non-birders, is A LOT). They were all interesting but my favorites were the barbets and the swallow-tailed kites. We hiked up to a vista point where we could see the mountains and watch the clouds rolling in. It was very cool.
 |
| Entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve |
 |
| Starting our hike |
 |
| Liam, just chillin' on a vine |
 |
| A friendly, random guide (with a different family!) insisted on taking this picture of us on the trail |
 |
| Crossing one of the many bridges, looking for birds |
 |
| Huge tree fern |
 |
| At the overlook. We saw four swallow-tailed kites from this vantage point. |
 |
| Lochlan at the top |
 |
| Prehensile-tailed porcupine |
 |
| Snacking on the iconic canopy bridge |
Our return hike took us across the famous suspension bridge. We had a good view of the canopy from the bridge, and since it wasn't too busy in the park, we sat down in the middle of the bridge and had a snack. We were munching away when Amy spotted a mammal in one of the trees--it was a porcupine! The Costa Rican porcupines are quite different from the North American variety, their quills are much shorter (a bit like a hedgehogs) and they have a long, prehensile tail! We watched him cruising around for awhile, finished up our snack, and then got back on the trail.
We ran into a couple of fellows from Seattle on the trail (one of them was wearing a UW shirt) and we chatted for a bit. They had been in Monteverde for several days, and recommended that we visit the butterfly sanctuary. We made a mental note of it and continued our hike. We drove back into town, grabbed some lunch, and then headed back to the hotel to relax before our afternoon tour.
Before I describe the next tour, I should explain that our boys are very different when it comes to their interests and enthusiasms. Liam frequently becomes deeply interested in a topic, researches the bejeezus out of it, talks about it incessantly, asks us to help him figure out how to do it, or take him to it, etc (bodhran lessons, chameleons, sailing, fishing, etc) whereas Lochlan very, very rarely expresses a deep interest in...well, pretty much anything. He is content to play with his friends, draw, read, and watch videos. So, when we were planning our Central America trip, he said to us "When we are traveling, I want to hike behind a waterfall, and ride a horse." Given the rarity of this kind of statement from him, we knew we had to make it happen. The hike-behind-a-waterfall happened in Honduras, and we lined up a horse tour for Monteverde.
We were told by Freddy that our guide would pick us up for the horse tour at 3:00. We were waiting in anticipation of the usual, ubiquitous tour van; however, right around 3:00 we heard the clip-clop of several horses. We looked down the street, and there was a caballero riding down the street leading four horses! that's right, he was picking us up WITH THE HORSES. We walked down to the street, he introduced himself as Martin. He picked up Lochlan, plopped him on a horse, handed him the reins, and said "pull up to go, pull down to stop, pull left to go left, pull right to go right. Got it? Si? Bueno!" He did the same thing with Liam. He said nothing to me (maybe he assumed that I just knew what I was doing? I'm sure my body language did not convey confidence). I am not an animal person. I like animals, in an intellectual sense, and I really like watching wild animals in their natural habitats, but I found the prospect of riding a horse for two hours intimidating. I didn't have much time to ruminate on my apprehension, because shortly after Amy was in the saddle, Martin was off at a trot. Our horses were not tied together, and were all responsible for steering them ourselves (!). Fortunately they all seemed like old hands and naturally followed each other, but it was a bit tense riding through the town.
 |
| Yes, I am on a horse. |
 |
| Liam, riding the horse he re-named Horchata (Horsechata?) |
 |
| Lochlan, very happy to finally have his horse ride! |
 |
| Getting ready to depart! |
 |
| At our rest stop the boys climbed a ficus tree |
 |
| Ready to keep riding through the forest |
 |
| Yet another group shot |
 |
| Lochlan with his new friend |
 |
| Lochlan rubbing down his horse after the ride |
Eventually we made it out into the countryside. The weather was very nice and we had great views of the countryside. I wish I had been able to take some photos from the saddle, but I was so preoccupied with not falling out of the saddle that it was quite impossible to take any pictures. Occasionally Martin would speed up to a quick trot, not quite a gallop, and I must have been doing something wrong, because every time that horse would complete a stride my body would slam down onto the saddle, smashing my nuts and chaffing my legs. It was an exquisitley painful two hours, but Lochlan was on cloud nine so I gritted my teeth and literally hung in there.
We proceeded up a very steep hill, and eventually came to a clearing where Martin tied up the horses to let them rest. He led us a short way through the forest until we came to an enormous ficus tree. These huge trees, also called strangler figs, grow up along the outside of a mature tree, completely cover it in a lattice of branches, and slowly kill it. Eventually the host tree dies and rots, leaving a cylindrical column of branches that looks custom-made for climbing. He had the boys climb up several feet and we took photos. The boys wanted to keep climbing, but the tree is over 200' tall and we did not have any ropes and harnesses.
We got back on our horses and continued our trail ride into the forest. The trees were fairly close together, and we had to take great care in threading our way through them not to smash our knees into the trees. By this point all the horses were sweating profusely, and it was quite a strong aroma. Occasionally one of the horses would take a huge dump, which the boys found quite comical. We eventually made it back to the horses' stable, where Martin took off their tackle. Lochlan asked if he could brush down one of the horses, and Martin very enthusiastically showed him how to do it. Lochlan was so happy! Amy nd I were sore all the next day, but it was worth it just to see the blissful smile on our boy's face.
That night we ate dinner at a most unusual restaurant we'd seen on our first afternoon--it is called the Tree House Restaurant, and it is quite literally in (and around) a giant tree. The food was pretty good too.
 |
| Entering the Treehouse Cafe |
 |
| Inside the Cafe |
The next morning we were up very early for a birding tour. Our guide picked us up at 5:50 am and drove us west once again towards Monteverde. Our guide was Andres, and he was the best guide we had throughout our entire Central America trip. His knowledge of birds was exhaustive, he could ID birds by sound or sight almost instantaneously, and he was lightning fast at setting up the spotting scope so the boys could see the birds. The weather was perfect, and we saw over 40 species in two hours (I have not yet calculated the total, but again, that is a LOT of birds in a short amount of time), including one of the marquee species in all of Costa Rica, the three-wattled bell bird. This bird is unique--it has a white head, a brown body, and three very long black wattles that extend down from the bill. They are members of the cotinga family, but they are much larger and have a distinct call. The males will perch at the very top of a tree, open their mouths extremely wide, and belt out a loud "EEEENK!!!" This makes them easy to spot at this time of year. The first one we saw was a juvenile male. He had the call, but not quite the distinct plumage, and his wattles were on the small side.
 |
| Anres, finding birds like a boss |
 |
| Juvenile three-wattled bell bird |
 |
| Liam holding the caecilian |
We also saw euphonias, a chlorophonia, two species of parrot, several species of tanager, three species of hummingbirds, a keel-billed toucan (that was the most incredible spotting job of the morning by Andres) and many others. In addition to all the birds, we saw a sloth, and found a dead caecilian, one of the most unusual creatures I've ever encountered. They are in the amphibian family, but they look like a giant earthworm and live primarily underground. They bear live young and eat worms and other macroinvertebrates. Andres said we were very lucky to see one, even a dead one.
As the birds wound down their morning activity, our bellies started grumbling, so we headed into the nearby restaurant for breakfast, which was included with the tour. We ate Gallo Pinto (a rice and beans dish) and it was very tasty. We were joined by Andres' boss, Don Carlos, and had a very interesting conversation about Costa Rica's military-free government, their new president, and other aspects of Costa Rican life. They are clearly proud of their country, and it was cool to hear their perspective on Costa Rica's place in Central America.
As we drove back to the hotel, the weather began to turn, and big dark clouds rolled in over the mountains. It started to rain, so we drove back in to Monteverde and visited the Cheese Factory and had some delicious ice cream. We decided to check out the Butterfly Sanctuary the guys from Seattle recommended, and it was really cool!
The place is run by volunteers from the US and Canada, most of whom are in college and are using the opportunity to fulfill the requirements of their degree. Our guide was a Canadian from St. John New Brunswick named Michael. He started our tour by showing us a variety of insects and spiders--tarantulas, beetles, and scorpions. My favorite was the Hercules beetle, an absolutely ENORMOUS flying insect. There was a male and female pair gorging themselves on fruit. Michael explained that they have to eat a lot of fruit in order to generate the energy needed to fly. They are called Hercules beetles because they are so strong--the males will latch on to a female and fly around with them. He said they are strong enough to carry a 5 pound bag of sugar through the air!
 |
| Hercules beetles, the largest insects I have ever seen |
 |
| Very large praying mantis |
 |
| Even larger walking stick (that is my hand) |
 |
| One of the many, many species of butterfly we saw, and the only one that landed long enough with its wings open for me to get a photograph |
 |
| Our little animal lover was given the opportunity to release one of the recently metamorphosed butterflies into the habitat |
Michael showed us several species of pupating butterflies, then took us through the three different butterfly gardens, each of which represents a different habitat type from Costa Rica (primarily dictated by elevation). There were so many beautiful species of butterflies! At the beginning of the tour, he'd handed a plastic tub to Lochlan, and explained that it contained a butterfly that had completed its transformation and was ready to be released into the third garden. The third (and final) garden was huge! Lochlan released the butterfly and Michael finished the tour by showing us a colony of leaf cutter ants that had established itself in a box with a transparent top the Sanctuary had built for them. We've seen leaf-cutter ants throughout Belize and Central America, and I knew they were using the little bits of leaves to grow a fungus that is their primary food source, but it was mind blowing to see it in action.
We cooked and ate dinner in the communal kitchen of our hotel, then sacked out early. We'd only been in Monteverde two full days, but had done four tours and a long hike!
We woke up early the next morning and headed south to San Jose, where we would catch a bus to Panama City.
