Costa Rica - Monteverde
Last night was too cloudy to see any "fireworks" from the volcano, so we didn't go. We just went to bed early. In the morning we piled onto the bus to head to Monteverde. The drive was beautiful. As we crossed the continental divide it became more pastoral, and then we entered a major area for coffee growing. Costa Rica provides 70% of the world's gourmet coffee (according to our guide, Edgar), so it is mostly shade-grown. We saw a lot of little signs for "gourmet" coffee or "fair trade" coffee. I haven't even tried any coffee since I've been here - it's too hot!
About forty minutes from Monteverde we stopped in a small town to visit the local elementary school. Some of the children had prepared a demonstration of folk dances, which they dutifully performed; they then switched to popular music and went crazy! Including pulling all of us in to dance with them. One boy n particular was a great dancer, always had a smile on his face, and just kept trying to get the whole group to share his enthusiasm! Of course he was absolutely adorable.
We continued on to a ranch for our horse trek, where we first had lunch. We then mounted up on our little trail horses and took off! My little guy, whom I arbitrarily called Fred, was an independent spirit but in a good way. We rode for about two hours, through fields with great views over the hills and patches of close forest. The only negative part of the ride was one particularly whiny boy (who also just wandered under my balcony saying he can't wait to get out of here). I kept trying to send mental commands to his horse to buck him off, but the little trail plodder wasn't listening.
At the end of the ride we had a short dance lesson, but I was feeling a bit off again so I just watched.
We got to our hotel, which is beautiful if disconcertingly Swiss-inspired. Our small room has a balcony and the most comfortable beds yet, but as we soon discovered, hosts a fair representation of Monteverde's insect life. Most of it is limited to the bathroom, which I can hangle, but I found a mama scorpion and her whole entourage of babies living on our hotel information card! I freaked out abit, but we managed to traip her under a glass and transport her outside. I have to admit that I prefer New Zealand - very few insects!
About forty minutes from Monteverde we stopped in a small town to visit the local elementary school. Some of the children had prepared a demonstration of folk dances, which they dutifully performed; they then switched to popular music and went crazy! Including pulling all of us in to dance with them. One boy n particular was a great dancer, always had a smile on his face, and just kept trying to get the whole group to share his enthusiasm! Of course he was absolutely adorable.
We continued on to a ranch for our horse trek, where we first had lunch. We then mounted up on our little trail horses and took off! My little guy, whom I arbitrarily called Fred, was an independent spirit but in a good way. We rode for about two hours, through fields with great views over the hills and patches of close forest. The only negative part of the ride was one particularly whiny boy (who also just wandered under my balcony saying he can't wait to get out of here). I kept trying to send mental commands to his horse to buck him off, but the little trail plodder wasn't listening.
At the end of the ride we had a short dance lesson, but I was feeling a bit off again so I just watched.
We got to our hotel, which is beautiful if disconcertingly Swiss-inspired. Our small room has a balcony and the most comfortable beds yet, but as we soon discovered, hosts a fair representation of Monteverde's insect life. Most of it is limited to the bathroom, which I can hangle, but I found a mama scorpion and her whole entourage of babies living on our hotel information card! I freaked out abit, but we managed to traip her under a glass and transport her outside. I have to admit that I prefer New Zealand - very few insects!