Day 9 ... heading to Monteverde

We left our ocean home today for a trip to Monteverde.   This area contains a cloud forest ecosystem which is very similar to a rain forest but is higher in elevation and close to the continental divide.  The drive here took about 4 hours with the second half of the trip being about 45k of twisting dirt, steep roads and of course no guard rails.  

Part of the road to Monteverde

Our little cabina

Picking herbs and veggies in the greenhouses

We checked into our cute cabinas and sent the men out for snack and breakfast provisions while the women and children went on a short hike around the property.  We had our first experience of being in the clouds when one rolled in as we were standing at the look out point.  It was pretty cool to see the open landscape slowly covered with white cloud.  We also went "shopping" at the property's greenhouses where guests can pick whatever they want to eat.  We got tomatoes, basil, parsley and strawberries.  Just like home except my strawberries never grew!  At 5:00 we got picked up for a night hike at the children's eternal rain forest.  This is a beautiful area purchased by a foundation started 20 years ago by Swedish school children who raised money to buy what was then farmland here to restore it to rain forest land and preserve that ecosystem.  Since then, the movement has been taken up by people all over the world and the organization has purchased a huge amount of land in this area.  Our night hike was a huge success.  We saw:  a turquoise browed motmot sleeping in a tree, a white something sparrow, grackles, a big hairy Orange kneed tarantula (which the guide lured out of its hole in the ground), a baby white tarantula, daddy longlegs, a walking stick bug, a small praying mantis, a big scorpion, crickets, spiders, a big ladybug, a spitbug and its spit, two green pit vipers hanging in the trees, a green vine snake hanging in a tree,  an Olingo jumping from tree to tree, a porcupine.  On the way home in the van, the driver pulled over so we could see a Sloth hanging from the telephone wires! Of course i have no proof (pictures) because it was night ...