6th January – Monteverde, Costa Rica

This morning we had an early rise to head to what Monteverde is best known for, the Cloud Forest. After last night there were a few weary people and a couple of mildly sore heads (not us). We met our guide Maria who with a large telescope in hand led us through the forest pointing out the vast array of birds and plants throughout the forest.
We saw a blue crested Motmot (our Tikal bird man would be pleased), a large black bird and lots of groups of tourists walking along the track. Maria was very smart and knew a lot about birds but also plants and ecology. The national bird of Guatemala and name of their currency is the Quetzal. Maria was very excited to see a small female in the tree. Through her telescope we could see it with green plumage, though a branch obscured her head. We traveled all through Guatemala to see one of these birds, instead we had to come Costa Rica to locate one.
The wind must have been strong over the last few days as there were a number of large trees toppled over. This in turn gives seeds and other plant species the opportunity to grow as these forests are all about the quest for light to photosynthesize. Tan thought I was becoming a twitcher looking around in the trees for birds. There were tree ferns and an abundance of air plants attached to the side of the large trees. Visibility varied due to the cloud which was omni-present, though at times it was damp along with the occasional cool shower of rain. Back along past the wild avocado tree, there were a few groups of people stopped along the track. Quetzal!!! A male with long tail feathers was sitting high in the trees. Maria showed us how to take photos through the telescope. This one moved and then we saw another, then a small female quetzal. After about thirty minutes Tan and Dana weren’t getting into this twitcher groove and took a seat. It was a pity for them as they didn’t see the male quetzal fly down to a lower branch with it’s full colours shining in the air. They just heard the ooh and aahs. Az would have liked it though.
A few more quetzals and we bailed. Near the entrance gate we saw a pisote or coatimundi. The coati was digging away with it’s nose in the soil looking for food. We love coatis.
Next up was the hummingbird garden. Here little plastic feeders were set up with sugar water and the hummingbirds really liked it. These things are amazing with their super high wind speed and precision flying. They were also were colourful too. On the road out we stopped at Stella’s bakery. We supposed to look at the menu and highlight the food we wanted. Stuff that. Our choice was more of a surprise bag and to our pleasure the food was really good. Even the cake we picked was good, a carrot cake (zanahoria).

Outside Sal motioned for me to come over. He had just seen a green bird. By the time I got there it had flown away. It was a emerald toucanet. Even though we were outside the park, we saw more bird species near the bakery than anywhere else. Green birds, bright orange, bright yellow and pale blue were some of the coloured birds we saw. Tan thinks I am an ultimate bird nerd now. After a filling up on tasty baked goods, we visited the Don Juan coffee plantation. We originally thought “how many coffee tours can we do?”, however this one was really interesting. He provided the history of coffee in Costa Rica (a provider of Arabica Coffee – low production, high quality) and the history of Don Juan, a small provider in the market. We walked round the coffee grounds from station to station going through the years of coffee history until we arrived at the present time. All parts of the process from growing the plants to picking to drying were seen. Here we ended up the main building where we could drink light or dark roasted coffee, however much we wanted and however we wanted it accompanied by some traditional Costa Rica dishes. The sun also briefly made an appearance too so we sat on the verandah and enjoyed the company of the coffee plantation cat.