Monteverde is among the many popular ecotourist attractions in Costa Rica. It's a slice of prime cloudforest, protected within park boundaries, flooded with visitors who come to take in the beautiful surroundings and see the abundant bird life. But before you can do all that, you have to get there - an arduous task best left to 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Our group, on the other hand, rode in a 2-wheel-drive compact rental car, and we became increasingly nervous as we drove from Lake Arenal towards the central highlands. The quality of the road deteriorated until we were bouncing around deep holes and dodging small boulders at a maximum speed of about 15 mph. More than once a loud scraping sound from under the car prompted us to pull over and check for a ruptured fuel tank, but it seems luck was again on our side and we proceeded without incident. And as we were jolted about inside the vehicle, some fairly incredible scenery unfolded around us. We stopped several times just to survey the surroundings - you could see for quite a distance out over the rolling hills of central Costa Rica. The car held up, and finally, with darkness approaching after several wrong turns, we rolled in to the small town on the edge of the park and celebrated our journey's end (for the day).

It was a pleasant little town, with some good restaurants and lots of places to stay. There were no official grounds for camping, however - I guess most travellers stay at one of the many inns, B&B-style. We managed to get permission to camp in the yard of one of the inns (Arco Iris), and this seemed to work just fine. After devouring a standard rice & beans dinner, we drifted quickly off to sleep to rest our jarred bodies. The next morning we awoke to the songs of thousands of birds, and even in the yard of the inn we saw some fantastic sights (such as the mott mott depicted here).

It was an early start. We had arranged for a guide to take us bird watching (on the recommendation of someone at the hotel, I believe), and he was to meet us at Stella's bakery at 6 a.m. Some good Costa Rican coffee helped lift our heavy eyelids, and sure enough right on time we were introduced to our guide, Alex, a local guy in his early 20s, friendly and quite fluent in English. He wasted no time in pointing out the great variety of bird life all around us, even before we actually entered the forest reserve itself. We were racking up numerous sightings of different bird species just walking to the park entrance! Trogons, green toucanettes, brown-crested parrots, white-fronted parrots, bright flashes of color here and there... It was dizzying, but our experienced birding friend Jay was faithfully noting all that we saw in his bird book. Alex claimed that he had not led a walk in which they'd seen less than 40 different bird species. Truly wonderful.

A small visitor center was situated just inside the reserve entrance, and several hummingbird feeders hung over the patio. To say the feeders were well-visited is an understatement. Numerous beautiful hummingbird species darted in and out, mesmerizing a small crowd of backpack-wearing visitors. We would return here later. Once we'd actually gotten on the trail, bird sighting began in earnest. Alex explained that smaller birds usually hang out together for protection, in what are called "mixed flocks" - many different species in a single flock. As we walked along the trail we encountered many such flocks. The quiet forest would suddenly come alive with chirps and whistles, Alex frantically pointed out everything he could, and then it would become quiet again. It was a fantastic walk, to be sure, but after a while we were all wondering the same thing: would we catch a glimpse of the much-hyped Resplendant Quetzal, the holy grail of Central American bird watching? There could be no guarantee - would we be disappointed if one didn't make an appearance? Luckily our first question was quickly answered, and we didn't have to answer the second. We saw 3 or 4 of the magnificent birds, not quite close enough to photograph, but very much in view. You'd think that they would be easy to spot given their irridescent green and red feathers (not to mention their relatively large size), but it turns out that the rainforest is full of irridescent green and red colors, so they blend in almost perfectly with the wet leaves. And they sit very still...

The forest itself was dark and dense. A constant mist hung in the air. The largest trees were covered with smaller plants fighting to take root and get into the sunlight. So many different types of plants - I wish I knew more about botany! The bird sighting tour ended in the early afternoon, and we took the rest of the day to gaze at the hummingbirds and wander slowly along various trails, just taking in the scenery. It would be great to hang out here for several days and really try to get a good close view of a quetzal. But at the very least this will be marked in my mental list of places to return to with better camera equipment!