It seemed that the drive to Rincon de la Vieja was only the start of our dirt road experience in a rental car. The next park we wanted to visit was the famous Bosque Nuboso Monteverde, which is one of the few remaining cloud forests (as opposed to rain forest) in the world. This time we had about 30 Kms on gravel and Margot was the most nervous about it but we all decided that it was worth the pain. Chad put on some nice music and we started climbing on the dirt road. The views we had along the way were unexpectedly phenomenal: we could see the nearby mountains on both sides of the road, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The sun between the clouds was playfully casting shadows on the verdant slopes, creating a crescendo of greens, yellow and dark blue on the hills. In the distance, we could also see the blue ocean shining in the afternoon sun. This was a good distraction from the bad road with very steep edges: the drive ended up not as bad as anticipated. An enormous diversity of plants, mammals and birds
We were planning to stay in Santa Elena, only a few miles from the entrance of the Monteverde Reserve. The closer we were getting to town, the more rainy the weather was: in one hour we went from sunny and warm to cloudy, rainy and cool. We could hardly believe the drastic change and had to dig for our fleeces and rain jackets when we reached our destination. This is why this area is labeled as cloud forest: winds are pushing humidity from the ocean, they encounter the mountains and condense into clouds of mist or rain. At night, when we walked to town, we could see the bright stars and yet, it was raining. It was hard to beleive that we could get so much rain with not a single cloud in the sky. The next day, we also noticed that regardless of where you were looking, there was always a rainbow somewhere.
Given its biodiversity, Monteverde is one of the best places in Costa Rica to observe wildlife. These guys are unfortunately most active early in the morning which meant we had to get up early the next day if we wanted to have better chances to see birds and monkeys. Margot and Dominique being still tired from all the driving, they told us that we should go by ourselves. Motivated, we booked a guide for the next morning at 7:30am in the park. You get so much more by going with a guide in the reserve: they have amazing binoculars that make you think that what you observe is right next to you and they know where to find the animals. So off we went with Selvin, our guide for the morning. Our hope for the day was to spot a Resplendent Quetzal, a rare and beautiful bird that you can only find in high altitude. We had not left the parking lot than Selvin showed us a green Toucanet: this was a good sign for the day.
We were following him in the cloud forest, and on the way he was pointing plants, trees, stopping when birds were singing, setting up the binoculars so that we could observe them. He was also calling the birds sometimes, to find out where they were. We were learning so much, it was super fun! Suddenly, he stopped and gave us a serious look: this was the spot where we had our best chances of seing a Quetzal: they feed from avocados and in front of us was an avocado tree. Now the waiting and hoping was starting. Only after a few minutes, Chad said that he thought there was one in the tree and indeed there was one. It 
was a female, which is not as pretty as the male. Selvin did not even have the time to set up the binoculars that another came to feed and this time, it was a male. It was the most amazing bird we ever saw (not our picture though here): cute little green head with a sort of scruffy feather do, small yellow pointy beack, black round and shinny eyes, green, bright blue, white and red feathers and this incredible long tail made of two long and lean feathers that were swinging in the wind. We could not take our eyes off him. Finally, Selvin told us we should go, which we did unwillingly. But the fun of the hike was far from being over: we also saw many monkeys, birds and insects. We ended the hike with a nice finish: the Hummingbirds gallery. There were tons of them around bird feeders filled with sugar water. We counted at least ten different varieties, with very distinct sizes, colors and shapes. We closed our eyes and could her their soft humming as they were flying close by. A second hike in the darkness of the night
As we thanked our guide for the amazing things we saw, he mentioned that there were also night hikes and that we would have a chance to see very different animals. We were very tempted by the adventure and decided to go. As we drove back to the park after dark, it was now really raining. We put our rain jackets on and met our guide for the night, Dulce. Another couple joined us and we all started the walk, flashlight in hand. Dulce took us first to the fountain at the entrance and told us that a female Tarantula was living there and that we should visit her. There was a little whole there and as she stuck a little branch in front of the whole that would look like an insect, she came out. Man she was big and so hairy, each of these hairs being venomous: she had bright orange on her legs in addition to the black. If only the tourists that are sitting on the fountain in the day would know...We then started our hike in the forest; it was cold, windy and rainy but the tall trees were protecting us some. We were all searching for two little glowing spots in the dark that would signal the presence of an animal since their eyes reflect the light. Dulce showed us little frogs, insects, bats and sleeping birds on the branches. These guys sleep with one of their feet holding tight on the branch, their beak tucked n their feathers. With the wind there was, it was hard to believe that they do not fall while sleeping. The frogs were our luckiest sight as almost all of them have disappeared from the park, mostly due to a fungus. Overall, it was a little creepy to walk in this big cloud forest at night with strange sounds around us, the big tress moving with the wind and the rain making us cold. But the creepiest was yet to come: we would walk the last five minutes completely in the dark, flashlights out, to see bio luminescent organisms. We decided to trust Dulce on that one and all walked in line, our right hand holding the right shoulder of the person in front of us. Not sure how she did it but she kept us on the path and we were able to spot a few glows in the dark.
Both cold and wet, we turned our flashlights back on as we reached the entrance. We had seen a whole different face of the park tonight. We felt lucky to have experienced both day and night; with the cold, were now ready to end the exploration of the Monteverde Reserve. When we told Margot and Dominique the next day what we saw, they were quite amazed. But they also highlighted that it takes dedication to spot all these fascinating animals as we got up pretty early and braved the cold and rain at night. At the end, it was all worth it and we still dream of the beautiful Quetzal and Hummingbirds... not so much about the Tarantula though.
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