August 26, 2009: Monteverde

Liam: We woke up at 6:50, twenty minutes behind schedule; Sean forgot to set his alarm. Luckily we didn’t wake up too late, we had enough time to get ready and get breakfast before leaving to go to the hanging bridges. The tour started at 8, we walked for two hours, on seven bridges, and saw many things. We saw three foxes, a tarantula, a couple walking sticks, a coati, two agoutis, a sloth, and two sleeping owls. Along the way we also climbed up the inside of a strangler fig tree. The tour ended at around 10, we got some food then got ready to go to the canopy tour.

The rest of our group arrived at about 10:50 and we got ready for the canopy tour. After getting all the gear that we needed on, we set out on our adventure. There were thirteen cables that we rode on, a tree we repelled down, and a couple of hanging bridges that we crossed. The two best parts of the tour were the Tarzan swing and the Superman ride. In the Tarzan swing, we got connected to a very strong rope that was connected to a large branch from a nearby tree. The rope resembled a rope swing on steroids. To ride this thing, you had to walk up a lot of stairs to get to a platform, once there you get connected to the rope and the workers push you off the platform. After a few swings going very fast, two workers catch you with a special made device. The Superman ride was a 700-meter (~2,100 feet) long cable that you had the option to hook up the pulleys to your back so that you flew through the air like Superman. The ride was very fun and Sean, Owen, and I each got a video of doing it. The tour ended with the Superman, it was an awesome tour.

Our group got back to the hotel around 2 ish, right when we got back we set off for the biology station. Sean led Owen and I through the streets of Monteverde to get back to his old home. It took about an hour and a half of walking uphill to get to the station. When we got there Sean took some photos and we walked around for a while. We left the station and had about a one hour and ten minute walk back to the hotel. It was about 5 when we got back, and we made plans to go out to dinner at 6:30 with some of the members of the group. After hanging out for a while we met up with some of the members of our group to go to dinner at a restaurant in the downtown. The place had very good pasta and we all got some, it was a fun night. We got back to our room about 8 o’clock and got ready for our 4:30 wake up tomorrow.

Owen: Once again, today Liam wrote first and covered most of the day, and once again, I will try not to repeat it all. The hanging bridges hike was quite interesting. I thought we were going to be very high up, but in reality, we were very close to the ground. We saw many different animals, reptiles, and insects. One of which Liam forgot to mention, the Road Guarder Snake. It was a long, skinny snake, with a vibrant orange underbelly. Sean and I each held it. Other than that creature, Liam covered most of the rest. We all enjoyed the hanging bridges.

The canopy tour was amazing. It was ten times better than the other zip lines we did on my birthday. We started off very slow, and similar to the other one, but after the fourth or fifth line, we got pushed off the platform! It was scary because we didn’t know what was going on, but I handled it a bit better than most people. Little did we know, we were supposed to be repelling down the tree, but we had no control, the guides let us fall and caught us before we splattered on the ground. Several people (all of which were girls. This is not sexist, just an observation) were exceptionally terrified and let out shrieks to rival the howler monkeys. After everyone was down, we sat under a structure resembling a bus stop and waited until it was time to go to the next platform. While we sat, a scream and a thud came from the top of the bus stop looking covered benches. Everyone was frightened, it sounded as though somebody had fallen on top, but it was just the guide playing a trick on us once more. After all that good fun, we continued on to several more zip lines, the Tarzan and the Superman. They were mind-blowing! I had so much fun!

After the Canopy, we went to the Biology Station in Monteverde. It was neat to see where Sean had spent his summer five years ago. He had many stories to tell and I got to read and criticize his research paper! =)

I will let him tell you about the Bio-Station though, he knows more about it, obviously. Goodnight!

Sean: Wow, today was action packed! The hanging bridges were great! It is amazing how much activity you can see on the forest floor below. Most of the animals aren’t used to looking up when they hear a noise so it is much easier to go unnoticed.

The Canopy tour was incredible. The tarzan swing was a pure adrenaline rush. I had never heard of such a thing but now I want one! J The superman cable was by far the longest zip line I can remember being on. It was over a huge valley and we were very high up.

The hike to the biology station was as brutal as I remember it. I am not sure howi managed to do that walk twice a day everyday for a month. Still, it was super fun to get to visit a place where I have such great memories. As usual the weather was unpredictable. The hike started out hot and by the time we were half way up the mountain we had our ponchos on.

At the biology station I showed my brothers the rooms where I spent hours studying and we even got to dust off an old book with my research paper. After exploring the inside of the station we went out in search of the famous strangler fig tree on the property. I think I found it but the trail was not kept up very well and it was raining fairly hard so we chose to head back. But before heading down the mountain we went on the main trail from the lab and made it to the first bridge. As we walked I envisioned Carlos quizzing me on the names of all of the floura and fauna we saw.

On the walk back down from the biology station Liam spotted an armadillo. We were very close to the creature and watched him try to scamper up the side of a hill a few times before we decided to continue on with our journey.