Monteverde

Thankfully we stayed dry on the drive to Monteverde and came into contact with the really bumpy road conditions for the first time. A higher SUV or a 4x4 car would probably have been helpful here, but we maneuvered our little Toyota unerringly past all the potholes and over the broken sections of the road. When we arrived at our cozy homestay, we were warmly greeted by the hostess - who, by the way, was 36 weeks pregnant - and she told us what there was to do in the area. We decided to do a night tour that same evening. Unfortunately it started raining again just in time and we got really wet 🙈. So, together with a great guide, we went through the dark forest looking for sleeping animals and we found them. We saw capuchin monkeys as well as a female and male quetzal, a popular bird whose male is known for his long blue tail feathers. Unfortunately, our specimen was either too old or had fought too much; in any case, it no longer had long feathers, but it was still cute. We also saw insects that disguised themselves as a branch and one that disguised itself as a leaf. But our highlight were the 4 bright green palm lance vipers, which are just as poisonous as they look. Although the snakes were far enough away from us, the guide explained the rules of conduct in case you were bitten: 1. Try to stay calm and move as little as possible, the poison will then spread more slowly throughout the body depending on the lower pulse, 2. Take a photo of the snake so that you know exactly which antivenom needs to be given in the hospital, 3. It is better not to tie off the affected limb, as this will concentrate the venom and increase the chance that the limb will die and 4. yourself Have yourself taken to a hospital as quickly as possible without stressing your pulse - the otters are extremely poisonous! We were even happier that the critters were so far away, but they were still beautiful 😁. After we had changed into dry clothes, we ventured out into the uncomfortable wet and cold weather one last time to find something to eat. We found what we were looking for in a Mexican restaurant and the drink we had was Jana's current favorite: hot chocolate.

The next day we went to the cloud forest of Monteverde, a high-altitude rainforest. And once again it was pouring like hell. We sat out the strongest shower in a small café in front of the national park and were able to observe lots of hummingbirds. The café has hung up several watering troughs and there was a lot of activity with cute birds all around. The wings beat so fast that you couldn't really see them and the hummingbirds stood completely still in the air. But mostly they darted back and forth in a very hectic manner and it hummed as if a large bumblebee were whizzing over our heads. When it rained a little less, we set off on the many small hiking trails through the cloud forest. We strolled back and forth very leisurely, saw a cool red suspension bridge that lay mystically in the fog, a small waterfall and lots of moss-covered trees, which reminded us of the cloud forest in Malaysia. We also ran into a few crabs, whatever they had lost up here 😁. On the way home we noticed that we unfortunately had a flat tire and a screw was stuck deep in the tire. So we switched to the spare tire and told the rental car company. Since we had to go back the next day anyway to extend the rental car, that wasn't a problem. In the evening we ate in a nice restaurant and toasted the start of the Zimmner Kerb with a beer and a schnapps, which Philip missed this year with a heavy heart.

Tomorrow we'll head further south to Uvita with a short detour to the car rental company in San José.