Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve

We packed our bags and hit the road this weekend without having decided on a final destination. We drove a full hour and a half before heading to Monteverde.

The Preserve consists of 6 ecological zones, 90% of which are virgin forest. An extremely high biodiversity, consisting of over 2,500 plant species (including the most orchid species in a single place), 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species, 120 reptilian and amphibian species, and thousands of insects, has drawn scientists and tourists since.

Wikipedia

The road to Monteverde is treacherous and some consider it among the worst in Costa Rica.

One’s buttocks are punished by the 17 kilometres of jarring, unrelenting bumps but the eyes are treated to some absolutely spectacular views all the way out to the Pacific Ocean.

In the cloud forest, we enjoyed the treetop suspension bridges which consisted of 3 kilometres of trails and eight bridges of various lengths ranging between 170 - 560 feet.

We also had to allow a little bit of time to play Tarzan.

Everything grows really big in the cloud forest. Naimah wanted to take some of these flowers home with her but we explained that they wouldn’t fit in the car.

And, we had to explain to this bug that tried to stowaway on Gabriel’s sneaker that she wasn’t allowed to come either.

(The fact that I know that the bug is female is a testament to our intensive insect exposure over the last year in Costa Rica.)

Centro Americano de Beach Volley

This weekend, Atenas hosted a Central American Volleyball tournament.

Participating countries:

• Belize
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• El Salvador
• Panama
• Nicaragua
• Costa Rica

The athletic prowess was impressive.

 

After hours, the kids put the sand to good use building castles and volcanoes.

Volcán Irazú

The Pacific Ring of Fire (or sometimes just the Ring of Fire) is an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.

Wikipedia

The Ring of Fire passes right beneath our house in Victoria, British Columbia and our current home in Costa Rica. In Atenas, we are very close to a few of the most active volcanoes in the country.

Two weekends ago, we visited Volcán Irazú.

The Irazú Volcano (Spanish: Volcán Irazú) is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. Its name could come from either the combination of "ara" (point) and "tzu" (Thunder) or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano. In Costa Rica it is known by the name of "El Coloso" (The Colossus) due to the catastrophes that it has provoked in the past.

Wikipedia

Irazú is next to Volcán Turrialba, a volcano that has been in the press in the last few months due to its increased activity. As we approached Irazú, we were able to see the huge plumes of smoke coming from Turrialba.

On a clear day, it is possible to see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the top of Irazú but we had some clouds that added an ominous effect to the craters.

 

The children especially enjoyed playing in one of the extinct craters.

  

It is not often that you see someone trying to make a snow angel in volcanic ash.

Orosi

This weekend, we headed to the Orosi Valley which is famous for its scenic mountain views.

The park/overlook, Mirador Orosi, offers great views of the lush river valley below. For one of the first times in awhile, I was able to snap pictures of the 3 kids without one of them striking a pose.

On Saturday night, we were lucky that there happened to be a big fiesta in town. We let the kids go on the creaky, old rides that date back to around The Kennedy Era.

It was quite the fiesta… just ask this clown that was passed out in the field when it was still daylight.

Will you have fries or gallo pinto with that?

Nearly a year of Costa Rican cuisine has allowed us to appreciate really good casados – the typical Costa Rican meal.

It has even become normal for us to see McPinto on the menu at McDonald’s.

However, after having eaten Costa Rican food for all of this time, “exotic” for the kids is having a hamburger at Burger King (which they refer to as “Blue Burger” (long story)).

Mariposa

We went to see butterflies while we were at Arenal. Soon after we entered the netted area, the butterflies started to land on Léah. I immediately thought of the scene in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the forest animals gather around Snow White.

Léah provided some tips to Naimah on how to stay still enough so that she too could play Snow White.

The Blue Morpho Butterflies seemed to favour Léah while the Great Owl Butterflies (pictured below) seemed to prefer Naimah.

Emerald Basilisk

This emerald basilisk crossed our path when we were at Arenal. He can run on water too just like his cousin that we saw on the coast at Manuel Antonio.