Wednesday, June 6, 2007 (Santa Elena, CR) On the bus ride up it was very slow going, at times barely inching uphill, but the vistas were marvelous. Dimpled hills, views that went 3x as far as I'd thought it could, animals near and far, and lush green -- plus the air is very comfortable here.

(early evening - Santa Elena) A cloud has rolled in over the town. It's so neat to watch it drift in through a window or doorway. It's like a very heavy fog, and if I didn't know better, I'd think it was. Note, we were in a cloud forest.

C and I hiked the (free) Cerro Amigos trail, which was kind of sketchy as trails go. Much of it was a series of driveways and when we branched onto a footpath it was very pretty in places, but ended with this set of pipes that seemed to be a drainage system. We finally gave up and came back....We're going to shower and then meet Holger for dinner. It was on this hike that we decided to come up with a code phrase in the event we ever needed to signal to the other, "hey, let's get out of here NOW, something's sketching me out." We decided on "Busted Toe." The one time we had occasion to make use of it (on the Corn Islands), we forgot it. C'est la vie, I suppose.

I need new batteries for my camera. The spares I brought (that I thought were charged) are dead.

(late evening - Santa Elena, CR)
The batteries I need come uncharged. So I broke down and bought a charger for $10. I guess that's what I get for thinking I could go without mine. Well, it is a good travel charger. And it was cheap.

Holger (on the right in this picture) is from Germany. He'd spent two months in the US, a month in Mexico, and was doing one final month in Costa Rica. We met him on the bus up the mountain. We met Holger and ate at the Restaurante Mar y Tierra. Good food, and at 10% off was nice. Then we went to a nearby bar and had a drink together....we learned there's live music tomorrow evening. we made plans to meet for a later dinner and then go to the bar for a bit.

Thursday, June 7, 2007 (Monteverde, CR)
This morning we went to the Santa Elena reserve. We went to the Hotel Camino Verde for shuttle bus tickets and the guy pushed the entry pass as well. C thought that meant it had to be done there; I thought it would just be easier. But he wouldn't accept my student ID because it had no expiration date. We argued with him, and I even offered to verify my student status online, but he had none of it. So we paid and left, frustrated; somehow I didn't think to say that we'd do the pass at the top -- and he never indicated it was an option (why, though? Does he get a cut of the profit?)

So we went to the reserve and asked about it there. All the officials said they'd take it. When we returned that afternoon we went back to the store. The man wasn't there, but the person we talked to then was very helpful and refunded us the $6 difference. Of course, then I left my ID there by accident and had to go back for it later this afternoon.

The cloud forest was phenomenal. Walking through a rainforest on a mountain was just as I hoped it would be. Amidst the green were speckles of every color imaginable -- and all so bright! The clouds drifted through at one point and the breezes and altitude kept us cool as we walked (though made us cold when we stopped for lunch).

We took a route (Caño Negro) that was 4.5 km and was supposed to take 3 ½ hours, but we did it in 2 1/3, with stops on the first quarter leg. There was a crickety old observation tower that I nearly surmounted (I made it halfway up the ladder leading from the penultimate to the last levels). The trail wound up and down, up and down, crossing four streams (one the Caño Negro -- all a little weaker than I'd hoped they'd be, pero bonito nonetheless).

The "great view" (according to our guide map from the visitor's center) of the continental divide. Awesome! We saw it. Do you see it? It's gorgeous, isn't it? We should have taken more pictures. I've seen it all. I think I can die now.

The mildly disappointing Caño Negro. Pretty, but not really what I think of as a Canyon...Cristine's a little confused, too.

After our hike we spent part of the afternoon having too much fun at the Ranario (Frog Pond). The frogs inside were neat, too.

	The night tour was a lot of fun...we saw several tarantulas, an owl, two brown jays, an enormous ant colony, some walking sticks, a few caterpillars, and some interesting plants (including "forest toilet paper" -- very soft!). We saw no sloths, though not for lack of trying. So, the sloth and the quetzal have done unseen by me. :-( We walked around in the rain, C with the poncho and me with the seldom used umbrella. It stopped raining by the end, but I was already soaked -- and I loved it.
	The walking stick I referenced.
	A toad we saw I forgot to list in my journal.

The next morning we got up early and had to move quickly to catch our bus to Nicaragua.

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