July+2,+2011

July 2

We got up at 530 AM to get on the bus. We took one more close look at the Arenal Volcano from our hotel and loaded on the bus for a long drive across the mountains to Monteverde area. The first leg of our trip wove around the man-made lake used for hydroelectricity. It is very large, but the road was nothing but curves \back and forth, up and down. Once we left the lake, we turned onto a stone road to cross over the mountains to head toward Monteverde. We went up and down mountains where we stopped at one point to look at and listened to a troupe of howler monkeys. Mostly we must saw pastures with vacas (cattle) grazing. They use a system of rotational grazing where animals will only be in a field once a month or so. The hills are amazingly steep and we can’t imagine how the people made all the fences. The homes are sparse and far between. We would occasionally come upon a village with a coffee shop and church, but for the most part we had the road to ourselves. It was good because the bridges are single-laned. We had passed a few vehicles moving cattle around or other tours buses. We could have reached out the touched the people who were only inches away. Some of the turns were so steep that we had to do a three-point turn with the bus too.

We took a quick break in a medium sized mountain town where the air was fresh to stop at the supermarket. Mario introduced us to Chicky cookies. They are basically shortbread cookies with a chocolate bottom. Yum! We climbed back in the bus for two more hours of mountain driving and arrived at the first attraction of the day around 1045 AM. We went horseback riding! We all saddled up on a variety of mountain horses and the family that owned the horses lead us on a 2 hour jaunt through cow field, forest, coffee fields and streams. The weather has been extremely wet (it has rained every day - usually around 3 PM) so the paths were very muddy. Our strong and steady steeds where sure-footed and fun. Once we got used to the commands, everyone relaxed and enjoyed a wonderful ride. The vistas where beautiful. The best part was seeing the long line of single file riders on the horizon. We got of the horses with many smiles but very hungry!! From there, we drove down into the town of Monteverde where we were taken directly to our restaurant. Monteverde is a town that was settled by Quakers in the late 40s who stayed in Costa Rica because their car had broken down. They were planning on going to Argentina but stayed here because CR does not have an army. They made cheese in this cloud forest. Now the town is primarily a tourist area with many eco-tourism and national parks in the area. Our hotel is more like camping cabins complete with some interesting bugs.

After moving into our cabins we re-loaded the buses where we drove to the local high-school. At this school they are doing a project where they are reclaiming the cloud forest. Everyone got to plant a tree up in the woods. We really enjoyed watching some members of our tour “get their hands dirty”. After leaving the high school we had some free time in town. After a delicious dinner we had a chance to go on a night walk in the forest. We saw some interesting bugs, flowers, trees, a few rodents and a tarantula. It was great to crawl in bed. Tomorrow - zip lines!