the next day in monteverde we dragged ourselves out of bed to a morning greeting us with sore muscles and a nice breakfast. it was around 6am and it was already light outside. the sun rises around 5 and sets around 6. this place gets 13 hours of sunlight!

we climb into the vans for another bone jarring ride up an unpaved road to the cloud forest. this road really sucked. i couldn’t believe how big the potholes were. along the way were arts and crafts stores, museums, tranquil hotels, places to eat, etc. it would be a nice place to explore if one had the time.

at the cloud forest, our guide named maria carried this long monocular (one len telescope) on a tripod. she pointed out different trees, birds, plants, bugs, etc. we learned and saw so much that i’m going to list some of it.

We saw:

• a woodpecker with its head sticking out of its home
  
• a robin
• viper
  
• reptiles
• all kinds of beetles and bugs
• baby birds, which i thought were scary and ugly with their bald heads and gray eyes, yuck!
• waterfall
• quetzal
  

  , famous bird only spotted here

• tree ferns
• all kinds of different trees and plants
• frogs
• butterflies
  
• hummingbirds (tons of humming birds). it was amazing to see so many. they buzzed around and almost hit people as they moved so fast. i got some great pics of them.
  

We learned:

• that there are lot of wrens flying around in the forest
• about minature avacado seeds that birds eat. it was really cool to pop one open
• the entire weight of the ant population weighs the same as the human population, which i think means a million ants per person. in thailand, i wrote a post about the world being covered in ants. i think my theory holds true. the post is called the world is covered in ants.
• how a certain type of plant will create holes in its leaves so that bugs will not eat them. the reason why is cause once a bug starts munching on a leaf, the plant sends a poison called alkaline that makes it taste bad. after the plant leaf this, bugs don’t want to touch the leaf. i find this incredible. how the hell did a plant figure out to insert artificial holes in its leaves to prevent from being eaten. we also saw some plants that were eaten up completely.
• Costa Rica was formed by volcanos. it does not have a granite foundation found in places that were created in the beginning.
• in regards to the hummingbirds,
• the smallest is 4 cm and the largest is 15cm
• has the highest metabolism of any organism
• its heart beat is 1500 per minute
• in order to sleep, it hibernates by reducing the heart beat to 100 per minute
• some hummingbirds fly across the gulf of mexico. when they leave, they weigh twice their weight
• they live on average 5 years in the wild.
• i’m sure there are other things, but that’s all for now.

we also learned that the catepillars eat up to the equivalent of 100 salads a day. since the little bugger is so small, dee is contemplating eating the same by chopping down trees to become that small.

the hummingbirds were amazing so was the quetzal. we thanked our guide and headed for lunch. we were so hungry. we stopped at a quaint sandwich shop along the dirt road back into town where the rest of the group was.

next on the agenda was the coffee tour of don juan’s coffee plantation. we met our guide named jerry, who was an energetic cuban who was from miami. he was in costa rica to experience living in the country. he spoke really well and was a fun person. we asked if he was don juan, and he replied, i’m a don juan but not the don juan.

he showed us how coffee started from a little seed to the fine brew that everyone knows and loves so much. he told some bad puns such as you don’t know beans about coffee! the whole process is really labor intensive

and it takes four years for a plant to start producing coffee beans. coffee beans start as a red berry looking fruit with the bean being the seed. while on the plantation, dee got to ride in a bull drawn cart. as dee was poising for the pic, the bull took a leak. check out jerry’s face. * WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 5711 * and we drank a bunch of coffee. the coffee was ok. all of us drank three or four cups and we didn’t get jittery or anything. is that a sign of the quality?

regardless, it was relaxing sitting on the plantation house’s porch overlooking the coffee plants. the clouds started rolling in creating a surreal scene.

before we left, we met the real don juan who is retired now. * WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 5732 *

we rode back in the don juan van to the ihop to change for the night. first stop was a bar called the amigos bar. it was dead (cause it was early) and we had the place to ourselves. we played cards and had a few drinks while listening to 80s music.

we left for the group meeting and it had started raining again. while we were walking back the town’s lights went out for five seconds. it was really weird. i think i heard a scream or maybe it was a car’s wheels. supposedly, this is a common occurence. i started to notice all the computers had backup power supplies attached to them.

we met the group and some of us decided to eat at a “typical” food place, aka cheap and good. the three of us got the vegetarian dish. it was good but for me, it was too small.

after dinner, we headed back to IHOP to play cards and have a few drinks. there was a huge beetle flying around that had a few people jumping.

after a while, it disappeared. hmm. the rest of the group showed up and played cards at the other table. it was a fun night with everyone hanging out together and shooting the shit.

the next day we were waking up early to head to quepos. i was excited cause i was hoping the internet was going to be much better, which you know didn’t turn out. but it was the beach and we could finally get some sun and sand if the weather would be nice. in this country, you never know what the weather will be like.