Cloudforesting.

We awoke early on Monday morning and were out the door by 7am, on our way to the Monteverde cloudforest. Seth and Majela had not been there before, and believe it or not, neither had we! We were on the road for an hour or so and we stopped for some delicious ´pinto´, the local breakfast specialty. When we got back on our way we were surprised to find the turn off just around the corner. It was time for our hellish ride to begin - the road up there is notoriously terrible, 35km is a long way....

We were all pleasantly surprised when we found ourselves cruising down a beautifully fresh, tarmac highway! Seth was a little concerned as to how he could have missed the news of the new road, but was ultimately relieved! The scenery grew increasingly beautiful as we climbed but the road abrubptly turned to gravel, and then to dust, and then to mud. Before we knew it our gorgeous road was gone, we had fortunately got a little more than half way though.

Seth´s ´billy goat´ ride took us through the unbelievably potholed "road" unscathed and we arrived at our destination, the rain forest living up to it´s name with a light drizzle. When we knocked on the door of out hotel it appeared to be empty. We had chosen this place as it was home to one of the original Quakers (yes Quakers!) that had founded the area. We waited and still no one turned up so we decided to try some other places. We were pleasantly surprised when we stumbled upon the Mariposa Lodge, closer to the park entrance and we were able to secure ourselves our own 2 bed apartment for the evening! Before we left for our hike in the cloudforest proper, we went and stocked up, hiking snacks, nibbles and of course rum, limes and beer for our return!

We arrived in the park and started on the hike we had chosen, The Triangle, circumnavigating the whole park. It really was a wonderful experience. The path is literally carved into the vigin cloud forest, the light rain only adding to the authenticity! We wandered past streams and waterfalls, gorges and cliffs, all the while being extremely optimistic about spotting the greatly sought after Quetzal. We didn´t see one of theses elusive birds but we had a great time none the less! We finished our day in Monteverde hanging out in our cabin apartment, enjoying our beers, rum and company.

As we left the cloudforest we decided to check out the cheese factory there, started by the founding Quakers. Unfortunately no tour, or free tasting, but we did spot some very odd looking choco-cheese! We then embarked on the bumpy ride back to civilisation!

On the way back to Santa Barbara we stopped in the small beach town of Punta Reinas and had some good seafood and a short walk along the promenade. We then started back for Seth & Mayela´s where we spent our last evening with the family, eating great spaghetti, watching McHale´s Navy and playing a local version of Monopoly!

The following day we were up with the kids at 630, said our goodbyes and were off to the airport for our flight to Panama. It was sad to leave the home we had had for the past week and the family that had been so wonderful to us. Time to become real backpackers again though......



(..... now we just want the luxury back!!!!)