Monteverde

 I was able to check another thing off the box of MUST DO IN THIS LIFETIME while in Monteverde.

After a mix up with Uber cancelling my scheduled ride SUPER early in the morning, Marino came to my rescue and got me to the bus to Monteverde on time. It was a long ride, made even longer about an hour in when the folks who bought the seats I was sitting in came in and I stood the rest of the way there.

When I got to MapleTico (the wife is from canada, the husband from Costa Rica. Pronounced MaplayTico), they convinced me the weather was perfect, I should take my night tour THAT night. I am so glad I did. No one else was on the tour, so I had a private. The guide was so passionate about the trees, plants and animals, I loved it. We looked for, but didn't see any sloths or other large animals, but OH the bugs, plants and trees!

Telarana- Spider Cloth. I LOVE that name for a web!

So many neat sleeping birdies!

The fascinating symbiotic relationship between the bromeliads and the trees 

Sunday morning I was UP AND AT EM for my exciting adventure day! I have 2 different angle videos of my bungee jump, but here are some of the pictures from before and after. Also, My hiking boots have metal hooks, which could hurt me when my feet come together, or other issues, so I jumped without shoes. I chose the right socks for the day!

Captain America and Spiderman to help me jump 143 meters above the ground

I was SO excited!

I was ready to jump again!

So the park had a deal to get you do more of their packages. I was planning on skipping Ziplining in Monteverde, since I had done it in Arenal, but WOW am I glad I didn't skip it. I was the only person skydiving for the morning group, so the whole thing was incredibly fast. Instead of waiting around a few hours for my Canopy tour, they got me in as the last person in the morning group. In front of me was a woman from Chile, also traveling solo, 2 couples from Spain, and a family from Germany. For the VERY long cables, I went with the woman from Chile, so we got very close, very quickly. 

Now, at Arenal (different ziplining company) they took us to the top in a tram, and the ziplines crisscrossed the valley until we were back on the first level. Not the case this time. WE HAD TO CLIMB the mountain to get to our next cables sometimes. That mountain was breathtaking in more ways than one. (Dad!). 

Rainbows would appear and disappear EVERYWHERE!

So there was the regular zipling on your own. At this place, you had a glove with POWERFUL protection and you squeezed to break.

Then there were the long ones where you went with a buddy. So, for those ones, what they DID NOT explain was what being so close to someone else's line would do to ones face :)

I forgot to take another picture before cleaning up, but I was actually
MUCH cleaner than some of the others who had been the back person .

Next was the "superman". It's more like airplane than superman, arms to the sides, rather than in front, but SO MUCH FUN! There were 2 runs on the superman, one VERY long one across the valley and one shorter one through the tunnel. It was raining as I went across the valley, so looking anywhere was kind of difficult. Rain droplets are powerful when you are travelling at VERY high speeds. The tunnel was a neat experience too. By looking down, I saw absolutely no light, and really felt like I was flying.

The last was the "tarzan swing" which again, I have two videos of from two angles, so when we see eachother in person, ask. I had a BLAST!

I spent the rest of the day wishing for a bubble bath and walking around Santa Elena with the biggest smile on my face. The last day in Monteverde, I went to the National Park itself and learned to ALWAYS let the guide take a photo for you :) I didn't ask nearly enough, and I can't tell what the image is of for MOST of  my photos.

Guide taken- Stick bug

Guide taken- hummingbird calling out for a female

Pauli taken- Do NOT mess with this millipede!

Guide taken- He showed everyone how to take the photo with panorama
to show HOW TALL this tree is.

Pauli taken. No clue if there was an animal, I just really like the picture :)

Monkey fern!? Monkey FERN! I LOVE THIS FERN!

I had a GREAT time in Monteverde. HOWEVER, on my way to my next adventure, I realized the reason the pattern I was working on for knitting wasn't looking right. I had to frog the whole thing. (foreshadowing)