Our alarms went off at 7. On the way to breakfast (in the misty rain) there was an awesome rainbow over the cloud forest and a blue motmot on the railing of a balcony. Breakfast was standard: fruit, cereals, scrambled eggs, omelets, pancakes, plantains, fried cheese. Out in the lawn in front of the windows of the restaurant they had placed fruit for the birds and animals. We saw a variety of birds.We came back to the room to pack for the day. The mini buses rolled out for a 20 minute drive to the Sky Trek where we divided into 3 groups. Two groups took the entire Sky Trek while the other group took a much shorter trail. Bernal led our group for the whole trek. The sky trek is a hike through the cloud forest with 5 sky bridges over the canopy. The first 30 minutes were rather steep with steps into the mud. Bernal set a fairly quick pace, and I soon said screw it and went at my own pace with Bill and Bill R.
Bridge #1 (has no name)- 291 ft, maximum height 63 ft
Bridge #2 (Santa Elena) - length 351 ft, maximum height 93 ft
Bridge #3 (Colibri)- length 341 ft, maximum height 118 ft
Bridge #4 (Cecropia)- length 360 ft, maximum height 111 ft
Bridge #5 (Congo)- length 900 ft, maximum height 150 ft
It was cloudy and very wet. I took photos of anything that struck my fancy. Bernal would periodically stop to chatter about stuff, so I didn’t get too far behind. The three BBBs (Bill, Bill R, Barb) saw a cool millipede and called the others back to see. We finally got to the first bridge across the canopy. Only 10 people can be on the bridges at a time which is why we were split up.
We saw no birds or animals, but the view from the bridge was awesome. It was difficult to take photos in the rain and with the bridge swaying, but I got a few decent ones. As we continued to walk I took photos of forest plants, neat ferns, heliconia, leaves, spider and web. At the 4th bridge, we did see 2 neat birds. An orange bellied trogon perched on the cable and posed for us. Then a black-thighed grosbeak perched on a tree and kept getting closer as if he were curious about us. This is a gorgeous yellow and black bird.
Bernal and the others moved way ahead of the two Bills and me. On Bridge 5 we could no longer see them. AND THEN!!!!!!! My Bill spotted the resplendent quetzal. The other Bill and I went crazy. Not very many people are lucky enough to get a glimpse of one. This one, a male, hung around for at least 5 min flitting from one branch to another. He has an amazingly long tail and bright green, red, white, coloring. Just then a troop of howler monkeys started to howl. We could see in the tree tops below, branches moving. Two of the monkeys were on top of the trees, and I got a decent photo. The two Bills walked on, and I just stared in amazement. Then the quetzal took flight, circled around, and flew under the bridge just behind me and then out of sight into the trees. It was truly an awesome sight, and I am so thankful that I got to experience this.
The 3 of us finished the short walk flying on air. Bernal was waiting for us at the visitors center and was duly impressed. What an amazing end to our Sky Trek. Our group was the first one back so we went into the snack bar for coffee and fresh fruit - pineapple, papaya, mangoes. Of course, we had to totally crow about our sighting of the quetzal.
When everyone finished the walk, we loaded up and headed back to Santa Elena where we had half an hour to wander around the small town. Many of us went to a grocery which I always think is fun in a foreign country. Then it was on to Casa Manos, a women’s craft co-op, They did have the Walking with Wolf book which I encouraged Karen A to buy. I had found this several months ago, and it is an interesting book about the Quakers who came from Fairhope AL to settle Monteverde.
Lunch was at Johnny’s pizza down the road. It was really an upscale Italian restaurant. I got coffee with milk which came with the foam on top in the shape of a duck. I ordered spinach soup which was quite good and then a small chicken and pesto pizza. We all had ice cream for dessert. Most of our group is quite pleasant and good company.
From there we went to the Bat Cave in a 2 story community center with a restaurant on top, the bat cave and auditorium on the ground floor. The Bat Cave is a research center, and we got a talk about bats which was rather interesting before going into the bat viewing room. Two interesting things - watching the hummingbird bats and listening to the bat sounds via a special audio system that allows humans to hear the bats.
We then went to the auditorium to hear 93 year old Marvin Rockwell, one of the original Quakers to settle Monteverde. He was quite a speaker. I thought he was speaking from a stack of note cards, but really they were photos of his journey to and years at Monteverde. He said Wolf Guindon was not well but still alive. He spoke for about 45 minutes.
We were all herded upstairs for drinks - wine, juice, tea - and beef empanadas. We sat outside with Ross and Karen A. Bill saw Mr. Rockwell wandering around with a glass of wine and invited him to sit with us which he did. We had a delightful conversation. Karen got him to sign her new book. Mr. R also took out photos of his solo trip to Africa when he was 80. It was such a treat.
We finally got back to the hotel at 5pm. Bill and I sat at the table on a hill above our room watching birds while he smoked his cigar. A gray necked wood rail foraged on the ground not far from us, and I got a decent photo.
Dinner was at 7pm. Same menu. I had zucchini soup and the same sea bass I had last night. We sat with Karen and Ross. We got back to the room where we cleaned up our shoes from today. I had to throw away my white sox which were now brown. I had worn my new mesh shoes which are wonderful, but they don’t keep out water. We got ourselves mostly packed, and I worked on the journal.
I took a break about 10 and stepped outside to look at the stars, listen to the night sounds, and the eternal wind. I was about 3 feet from the end of the building when a huge deer (probably a white-tailed) came walking around the corner about 5 feet from me. It startled the hell out of me, but he didn’t see me for about a minute of two. He moved rapidly on. What an end to a lovely day!
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