Back to Monteverde: Ecological Photography Rendition

 
                                                         
A few weekends ago, my ecological photography class took a field trip to Monteverde.  It was quite suiting that an ecological photography class went to Monterverde, because it's a cloud forest with mass amounts of nature. It was a short two day trip, that ended up being one of my favorite weekends in Costa Rica. It was free, relaxing, and the only obligation I had was to take pictures--it wasn't too bad. 

Saturday morning we left for Monterverde.  This was my second time going to Monteverde.  The first time I went, was my first weekend in Costa Rica.  If you remember back to my blog post about the trip, you will know that, the travel up the mountain to our first stop was not enjoyable.  This time I was better prepared, and was able to enjoy the gorgeous view of the mountains.

Amazing Rainb

After getting to the hotel, we set off to lunch and explored the town.  We climbed hills, ate our weight in casados, explored cute craft stores, saw an amazing rainbow, and took pictures. I felt like I could have found the pot of gold if I would have walked a little more--it was so close to us.  Overall it was a great afternoon.

After a few hours of looking around the town, some of us girls decided to get a snack and smoothies from a cafe next to our hotel.  The restaurant had a bunch of hammocks surrounding the building, with a grill and picnic tables sitting outside.  It had a homey feel to it.  It looked liked someone's kitchen when we walked inside.  If you sat inside the restaurant you would have been able to watch the cook prepare the food--it was pretty cool. It was unique and fit well with the town of Monteverde.  Monteverde is filled with art and craft stores and one of a kind restaurants/cafes--it's definitely a quaint, unique town.  It takes special kinds of people to want to live in a the mountains and live hours away from real civilization. 

Anyways at the cafe, we ordered smoothies and the most amazing cookies.  If they wouldn't have cost $1.00 per cookie, I would have walked out with a whole bag.  They were a combination of honey, oatmeal, almonds and chocolate--delicious.  It was a lot of fun, and we were able to get to know each other better during that time.  Most of us, hadn't known each other very well before going on the field trip, because we were all in different programs. Also, this was my fifth week in Costa Rica, so a change of people to hang out with for the weekend was also refreshing.



That night consisted of dinner and going out.  It was relaxing and filled with great food.  The memorable thing about the night, was that on our way to dinner we saw a one-handed sloth make it's way down a power line and into the trees.   It was a pro.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with, so I couldn't take any pictures.  Sloths are the one animal that I really wanted to see while I was in Costa Rica.  I've seen sloths I think three times now, and have never been able to capture a decent photo of them--it's weird.

The next day the group went on a hanging bridge tour through the cloud forest.  I was so excited about this, because last time I went to Monteverde I only went zip-lining, so I wasn't able to see much.  Our group had a guide who took us on a 2.5 hour tour through the forest, and pointed out plants and animals.  He spoke mostly in Spanish, that was a challenge.  I don't even know plant names and science terms in English, how would I even begin to understand in Spanish.  While he talked, I took pictures--it was a much better alternative.

Cloud Forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging Bridge

Overall it was a great trip.  I'm so glad I got to go back to Monteverde, it is such a neat place with so much personality and nature. The relaxing weekend was much needed.

¡Pura Vida!