Our View... VRBO 1, Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica

I'm blogging from our second vrbo (vacation rental by owner) on the outskirts of Quepos/Manuel Antonio near the Pacific Ocean. I'm a bit behind in writing about our activities in Santa Elena/Monteverde because of our remote location there; not being able to be connected on the computer easily.  Jose, our newest vrbo owner has been so kind as to lend me his mobile partner connector. I've got it downloaded into my computer and am hooked up to the internet. At the moment, I'm sitting on our private patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean blogging! Sweet. The birds are singing and a bit ago, I saw a 2 toucans! But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here's the last installment from Santa Elena/Monteverde, Costa Rica...       Days 5-6-7
We walked to town and went to the Ranario; The Frog Pond of Monteverde. We saw 28 kinds of frogs and toads. Costa Rica has 144 species of frogs and toads. Our guide described their habits and  habitats. She helped us to find them in each exhibition. Some were as small as our thumbnail. Some toads are poisonous to touch. Frogs and toads are undergoing massive worldwide declines. The Frog Pond  dedicates part of each ticket sale to research and conservation efforts. It was difficult to get a good picture through the glass, what you see is my best effort and one fake. Can you pick out the photo of a picture?

After the Frog Pond, we walked to Bar Amigo Restaurant and had a small lunch. I was able to use their locked wifi and post my first pics on the blog. It was fast!  Amen to that. Bob was able to catch the football scores on Fox Latino TV. He was a happy camper.

We had a nice leisurely day walking back and forth to town, seeing the frog/toads and relaxing at our vrbo in the forest. Our view is splendid. We watch the gorgeous Bay of Nicoya as the sun sets each night. It's a lovely way to end the day. We enjoy a long distance panorama of the Bay, hillsides, hinterland, and mountains. We also get an up close and personal view of the spectacular vegetation that grows so easily in this climate.  We have many birds that visit our little backyard and the cutest little fellow who visits us several times a day. I did some research and found out he's an aguoti. We have many (colibris) hummingbirds who flit from flower flower right outside our window. It's fun to be a part of nature.

On our last day in SE/M, we hiked up to the place where you can zip-line and/or do a canopy walk.  It was an up and up and up  5K walk on a dirt road. Bob decided he wanted to zip-line through the Cloud Forest and I chose to take a canopy walk on trails and swinging bridges. Both took about 2 hrs. Afterwords we hitched a ride to town with some Coloradans from Colorado Springs who were in CR for a week with a private driver/van.  Bob befriended them while zip-lining through the Cloud Forest. I enjoyed being alone (except for a few tour groups who were moved quickly along by their guide) in the misty solitude of the Cloud Forest, walking along at my own pace over 9 swinging bridges and nicely marked trails. My E Roosevelt scare of the day happened when a young kid jumped up and down on one of the swinging bridges and made it dance. My heart danced too-- all the way to my throat!  I had a leisurely, enjoyable 2 hr. stroll seeing the vegetation, hearing the sounds of the Cloud Forest and as luck would have it, seeing a two-toed sloth with baby way way up in a tree! Thank goodness for binoculars. It was a heart-calming experience to be in the treetops. Meanwhile, Bob was off somewhere else zipping through the Cloud Forest. He said that it was scary at times because you zipped really really fast without a lot of control. (Hmm, I recall my friend Sue telling me of a bad experience zip-lining) Luckily, Bob had a terrific time.

To top the day off, we splurged and dined at Sofia's Neuvo Latino restaurant in Monteverde. Our friends Joan and John dined there last yr. when they visited the area.  My mango/coconut shrimp meal and Bob's grass-fed tenderloin with mashed plantains were muy rico! The sweet potato/plantain soup was oh-so delicious. We took a cab back to our vrbo and packed up for the morning trip to Quepos.

We got up early the next morning, waited in the rain for our van, drove to Santa Elena and joined another van with 6 other people to go to Quepos. We bumped along the dirt road down down down down the mountain for about an hr. From there, it took another 3 hr. to Quepos on a paved road with views of the Pacific Ocean along the way.