Enjoying my coffee even more at breakfast knowing the hard work it has taken to make it. The coffee lady was very dismissive of decaffeinated which apparently has to be steamed to take out the caffeine. They then have to add flavour and the caffeine is sold to the pharmaceutical companies and Coca Cola!
We left San Jose this morning and drove through some beautiful landscapes, through Puntarenes on the Pacific Ocean and into the hills to Monteverde. The journey helped along by our driver Raffa and guide Manuel, a most amusing double act.
We arrived at the Selvatura Walkways, Monteverde and firstly visited the butterfly house
After the butterflies we visited the sloth sanctuary. All the sloths have been rescued from poachers, habitat destruction, disease or accidents
Some interesting facts about Costa Rica:
It hasn’t had an army since it was disbanded in 1948. It was hoped that after civil unrest this would bring peace and it seems to be working.
51% of the country is protected land, either national parks or privately owned.
It is the youngest country in the Americas and was formed 15-25 million years ago through intense tectonic activity.
The first Jurassic Park film was made in Costa Rica which is amusing as it was not formed when the dinosaurs roamed
The main industry is tourism
There are more types of birds in Costa Rica than the United States and Canada put together.
There are approximately 280 volcanoes in the country and six or seven tremors every day.
90% of its power is hydro electricity, the rest made up of geothermic and wind power.
After lunch we walked through the cloud forest traversing eight walkways making up to 2,400 feet in total with heights of up to 240 feet. A fantastic experience and we heard lots of birds, saw a howler monkey and coati. The trees, plants, ferns and flowers were amazing
The longest of the walkways
Manuel telling us about the plants
The howler monkey
The coati
Some of the birds we heard
Monteverde is a cloud forest reserve and covers 26,000 acres, 2,500 species of plants, 400 species of birds and 100 species of mammals.
Arrived at our hotel just as the sun was setting. A two tier room with a pretty decent view from the balcony.
