Hikes In the Forests of Monteverde

Only a few weeks ago, I was in the cloudy area of Monteverde, Costa Rica. We stayed there for about three weeks and studied in a great Spanish school called CPI and went for many walks in the chilly air.

Taking a break to study outside at CPI in Monteverde

But something we did that was probably the most interesting was of our activities was hiking. We walked a LOT in Monteverde but most of that was walking -- and technically speaking we only did four big cloud forest hikes. But hiking was basically what we did on Saturdays and Sundays when we didn't have school. So, first things first: what exactly are the forests in Monteverde like? The forests in Monteverde are called cloud forests. Cloud forests are extremely humid and misty. Cloud forests, mainly found in Costa Rica, Panama, and Cambodia, take in precipitation from clouds above, resulting in a lot of moisture. And you know what water means --- drink! Animals come to cloud forests for the liquid. Because of the biodiversity, they attract scientists who come to cloud forests to study the animals and plants.

See the mist? That's why they call them CLOUD forests!

Every forest we hiked in Monteverde was a cloud forest. They are pretty neat forests and for some reason there’s moss everywhere. Could someone give me an answer why? I should look that up! One reserve we went to is called Santa Elena. It's a secondary forest. Everyone already knows that a secondary forest is a forest that regenerates after destruction. But the cool thing is actually seeing Santa Elena.

Ella and Liadan at the Santa Elena Reserve.

We also took a hike in a place called Curi Cancha. It was rainy there, but the forest was breathtaking with all the moist leaves. We saw some kind of massive caterpillar three times inching along. He was literally the biggest caterpillar I’ve ever seen.

I searched him up for 10 minutes on the internet but he didn’t pop up once. If we have a picture, somebody tell me what species he is! I’m losing it! Another place we went was Bajo del Tigre, where capuchin monkeys hopped around us.

But the interesting thing about this place is that we finally read about strangler figs (we had seen them a lot this year but never taken the time to learn about them). They are a type of tree that I learned is a tiny bit like a vampire.

-- They usually grow from bird-pooped seeds (not like a vampire). -- They grow in dark areas. (Vampires...darkness...anybody?)

-- They strangle and kill other trees to grow. (Strangling...sucking blood...there a difference?) Last place we hiked was called Sky Walk. Less of a "hike" and more a group of hanging bridges above the jungle connected by trails. It was wicked high. But wicked cool. There were tarzan vines ( type of tough vine) that were higher than the highest sky bridge there.

There were even flowers that high up! Some kind of tannish-orangey bird enjoyed the silliness of we humans as we walked by. We do look kind of goofy, you know, with all the ooooing and aahhhing at them?

Liadan and I pose under a tree near the hanging bridges...

Although you may not be able to walk over hanging bridges in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, I can still recommend driving over the longest bridge in MA -- over the Mystic River from Boston to Chelsea. (about 3km). Enjoy!

Mystic River Bridge Boston...enjoy the walk!

Ciao for now, Jack ---------------------------- This is Dad hijacking Jack's post as an excuse to publish a few more pics. We had planned on putting up multiple posts about our time in Monteverde but at this point we are so far behind on this blog that Jack's post will be the only one about our time in Monteverde. As Jack mentioned, the kids took Spanish classes for a few weeks at CPI. We did some cool hikes on the weekends. And we did a lot of other walking all over the area (exploring the town, getting exercise on the mountain roads, checking out sugar plantations and coffee farms, etc.). A very cool experience for one and all (other than the fan that fell on top of Jack in the middle of the night...and the scorpions that we kept finding in our room...per an earlier post...)

Ella during an outing to El Trapiche to learn about sugar plantations...

There is something funny about this pic from a local coffee farm because they chose Jack to wear the coffee picking basket thinking he would find it crazy cool and unique and not knowing that his class at the European School spent half a DAY picking coffee beans as a school outing!

Die, Scorpion! Die! (this one no longer has a head).

All four kids went to a yoga class together one day... : )

Glad Jack wasn't hit when this fell out of the ceiling!