Central America the Movie

The money shot

After Monte Verdi we continued on to La Fortuna. This seems to be the adrenaline capital of the country. From white water rafting, stand up paddle boarding to diving off and abseiling down waterfalls, La Fortuna has it all. I had planned on abseiling down the waterfall but after seeing a video about it in the tour shop and seeing that you have to dive into it cold canyons, I decided I'd had enough adrenaline for one holiday and chickened out.

Instead I spent the day exploring the grounds of the compound we were staying on. Instead of hotels we each had a log cabin with its own deck and garden, set in grounds of bougainvillea, fruit trees and palms. It turns out that the grounds were a haven for wildlife and after spending over a hundred dollars on various wildlife walks, I finally got to see some creatures! There was a whole family of agoutis just running about eating apples off the floor. They were obviously used to people because I was ale to get quite close for a good photo!

There was one thing I desperately wanted to see while I was in Costa Rica, even more than a sloth. They are very elusive and on my second to last day I really thought I had missed my chance, but while sitting on a bench on the deck, one of the girls said 'ooh what's that?' I turned, and there it was, the one thing I'd been dying to see for years: the tiniest of tiny, a humming bird! I was too stunned to move but eventually ran for my camera. By the time I got back she had gone but I decided to spend the next day steaking it out and after a couple of hours of waiting and stalking, she appeared from nowhere, just after a heavy rainfall. Flitting from flower to flower hovering a few seconds to sip nectar, it was almost as though she knew I wanted to see her. She flew close to me and stayed an extra few seconds, just long enough for me to capture then one photo that would make my trip. I can't even describe how happy that short few seconds made me, I felt so privileged and lucky that such a beautiful creature had allowed me to take her photo. I can go home now, I've got what I came for.

Last stop: Costa Rica!

Travelling into Costa Rica was an experience in itself. 

After an hour on the ferry (much smoother crossing this time, no puke bags required!) from Ometepe we were driven a few hours to the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border where we had to cross on foot, about a 20 minute walk. I've never had to do that before, I felt like a refugee with my big backpack on the back and my little one on the front. (Yes, it looks like that guy is having a rummage through my pack, and yes, I still have my passport.)

After another few hours driving over bumpy winding roads with precarious drops and views of misted hills all the way we finally reached Monte Verdi at dinner time, just in time to go straight back out on a night walk to do some wildlife spotting.

Unfortunately the coir doormat looking sloths that were promised on the front cover of my Lonely Planet guide were in hiding (I wonder if I should sue for false advertising?) but we did see some other cool stuff. First up, a big hairy tarantula (the size of the guide's fist) hiding in its nest. Not my favourite of creatures but as long as it wasn't running up my trouser leg I wasn't too bothered.

We also saw a huge line of leaf cutter ants carrying bits of leaves, queuing to get back into their nest. When I say huge line, I mean it went on for miles, seriously. We saw a couple of beetles and a caterpillar but that was about it for wildlife. There was lots of interesting plant life but nothing could make up for the sloth we didn't see.

Back at the lodge the guide turned off the lights and told us to look inside a glass tank in the corner. The tank was full of scorpions. And, who knew, they glow in the dark!

The following day the whole group went zip lining over the rain forest. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to but it quickly became clear that doing the breaking myself was going to dislocate my shoulder. I did three by myself but it was agony so I ended up attached to a guide. Being attached to someone is even scarier than going it alone because you have no control, you just have to trust that they've got you. Most of the zips you are facing upwards towards the sky, but the longest one, which is nearly 1600 metres long and 200 feet above the ground you do facing down, in Superman pose. I did this one by myself. And for an eternal 30 seconds I was zipping high above the forest canopy, through cloud, high above the trees, completely unable to breathe. It was amazing, exhilarating, breath taking, truly terrifying.

In the afternoon Christine and I went on another nature walk on the hanging bridges. I had been really looking forward to this because I thought it was the cloud walk which is suspended bridges above the canopy and in the clouds. It was not that trip. I was most disappointed. There were also no sloths. Fail.  We did see a quetzal though. The quetzal is the national bird of Costa Rica.

I loved Monte Verdi. The climate was much cooler and more comfortable for a start, but the scenery was the thing that made it for me. The rolling hills, steeped in low cloud behind a brilliant blue sky, high in the mountains, now that's my idea of beauty.