Monte Verde, the town where we spent the previous night, the adventures we had for today and Sunday's post (upcoming) and the morning of the following day, is high in the mountains and is something of a jumping off point for trips to the Cloud Forest and other outdoor adventures. I would say it was as close to a "tourist" town as we went through (although a fully functional town), and I am sad we did not get to spend more time there. Ah well, maybe someday.
Sunrises here are pretty spectacular, at least from the short time I was here:
Our stop today was the Sepulveda Cloud Forest (not a rain forest, as I was corrected), which is a forest high on the mountains (even higher that Monte Verde) which is primarily watered by the up-thrust of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. It was foggy/misty (but not terribly rainy). We did a ziplining adventure here (so few pictures as, you can imagine, trying to hold a phone and zip line is a bit hazardous at best). There were a total of 13 runs, including the two longest that were up to 1 km in length. I have never done ziplining before, but this was a pretty amazing way to see the forest (you pick up some speed on those longer runs!).
After that, Na Clann went on a Hanging Bridges walk through the highest part of the forest. The Ravishing Mrs. TB and I went to see sloths instead (she bravely soldiered on in the ziplining, but it was not her favorite thing).
These are two toed sloths (and all female - for some reason, that is what you can keep in Costa Rica). They eat vegetables and leafy greens here, but their favorite food are tortilla strips (which they picked out of the bowls). We were fortunate in that they were active while we were there.
Afterwards, coffee and a snack while waiting for Na Clann to return. Mine was a coffee flan; The Ravishing Mrs. TB had a cheesecake with passion fruit glaze (which was delicious as well, but very tart).
Our adventure that afternoon was a coffee planation (worthy of its own post after Christmas).
On the way back in the afternoon:
If you blow the following picture up, you will find that the Eagles were right: There is a Hotel California. But if it was here, who would want to leave?
Sunsets. I have seen many, but these were some of the best I have ever seen.
Videos: Sloths doing their thing!
I suppose it is the engineer in me but I can't sit in a ski lift or hang from a zip line without calculating loads, lifetime strain limits, how often they are thoroughly inspected, etc. As you can imagine, I'm not a very talkative person when doing such things much less attempting to take picture.
ReplyDelete"You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave" is one of my all time favorite song lyrics. Right up there with "Little old lady got mutilated late last night".
I can imagine Ed. The thought did occur to me that the cloud forest climate has to be lousy for metal components - that said, everything looked well anchored, well cared for, and rust free to my uneducated eye.
DeleteI will always, always sing "Werewolves of London" at the top of my voice, no matter where I am. Always makes me happier.
I could never get on a zip line even for a million. Hate heights Love the sloths. You and your family have a very Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMargi
Margi, this was the one - and only - time The Ravishing Mrs. TB did a zipline. The sloths were fun, and one of my personal highlights.
DeleteThank you very much, and Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!