Costa Rica-Part 3
The Cloud Forest of Costa Rica
On Friday we drove to Monte Verde and to the Cloud Forest Lodge. This reminds me of a beautiful state park with very nice cabins and a huge lodge with windows across the entire back overlooking a valley and the cloud forest. Hummingbirds of all colors and sizes were buzzing everywhere. It was very cool in the evenings; I think one night it got down to 48 degrees. We could also see the Pacific Ocean in the distance from the lodge. Cloud Forest Lodge makes all of their own bread and homemade Costa Rican meals which were wonderful.
At night we went to the Frog Pond and had a guide tell us about the variety of frogs found in Costa Rica and that most were poisonous. Some were huge and some were very tiny and in different colors; it was very interesting. The guide could even make the sounds of each frog.
Right after breakfast we got our gear on for the canopy tour, zip lining from platform to platform through the forest. The toughest part was the climb up to where we started. This was more fun than you can imagine if you have never done this before. Our guides were great and my favorite part was when we repelled straight down about 150 feet. I asked Christian, who controlled how fast I repelled, to let me almost free fall until close to the bottom. He did and I loved it, screamed a little, but loved it. When we were finished I would have done it again if I wouldn’t have had to make the climb back to the top.
Later that morning we did the Sky Walk Tour which is cable bridges over and through the tops of the forest. It is amazing that what we grow as houseplants in Texas, grow as monster plants and sometimes even in the tops of trees in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has roughly 1,500 species of orchids, almost all of them epiphytes (plants which live on trees in order to reach the sunlight). Costa Rica, in fact, provides much of the world’s supply of orchids. Other epiphytes include bromeliads (over 200 species, much more commonly seen than the orchids.) The epiphytes, treetops and vines create a canopy that preserves the moisture within the forest, and also provides a home for many small animals and insects that live their whole lives in the canopy, never touching the ground. The cloud and Costa Rica rainforest comprise some of the world’s most complex ecosystems. Sky Walk gives a chance to everybody to easily see up close the beauty of the Costa Rica Cloud Forest. I can hardly wait until I have a chance to go back and take my grandkids to experience all of this.
