Day 5: The road to Monteverde. When you read about this road in the guidebooks, they all mention what a crappy road this is and how much better it is to let someone else drive you or to take the jeep-boat-jeep. Hah! True, the road isn't the best, but we make it to Monteverde in about 3.5 hours without speeding...much. Having a 4 wheel drive definitely helps (by at least an hour, probably two), as many of the potholes are a lot larger than a pot. A couple of the towns are cute, having a German/Swiss/Austrian influence (there are even two German bakeries). There's also one of Costa Rica's nicer gardens here, Arenal Botantical Gardens, although we don't stop. We find a great place to stay, less than a year old, called Hotel and Restaurant El Atardecer (tel (506) 645-56-85, fax 645-54-62). Private rooms with bath are only $10 per person, even if you are travelling by yourself. It has a view over the Nicoya Gulf, but the sea is a long way away. Luis speaks great English (he meets the buses to try and lure the backpackers), and like all budget places, they will arrange tours and transportation for you (can you say commission?). How can you beat that? Try the fruit drinks there! Absolutely HUGE. Whitney orders a mango drink and they use the entire mango! And it's the same price as what everyone else charges for a regular drink. Through the hotel, we reserve a canopy tour and walk at a new place (opened late 2002) for the same afternoon. After a quick lunch, we return for our ride only to find that the canopy tour is booked today. We decide to do the walk and - as we will be here tomorrow - do the canopy then. We are picked up and taken to Selvatura, where we discover that we can do the canopy tour or the walk, but not both because there isn't enough time. So we do the canopy tour! WHAT A RUSH! We descend steel cables that stretch for 200 plus yards using rappelling gear. You don't actually see much of the canopy because of the speeds (especially if you're like me and avoid braking until the very end), but several of the cables are at least 100 feet above the canopy, giving you grand views of the area. The only bad thing is that most of the pictures didn't turn out well because of the low light conditions.

Day 6: Monteverde Cloud Forest. We had hoped to get a private tour with Deborah Harris, whom my sister had heard of and who had gotten rave reviews on Lonely Planet's Thorntree, but she was booked. We instead take a general tour at 7:30 AM. Unfortunately, while we hear quite a few birds, we don't see many because of the dense canopy. Many of the other groups appear to have the same problem. So instead, we learn about a lot of the different plants and trees as well as some animals. After the tour, we wander around on our own. We actually find more birds on our own, perhaps because there are fewer of us. (Certainly not because of our incredible birding ability!) Thanks to a group on a Central American birding tour, we also see a female quetzel that's way back in the canopy. They have been watching it for about an hour, hoping to see a male (the more resplendent one). No such luck! In the afternoon, we return back to the canopy place to do the walkway tour. This is a self-guided walk that encompasses about 10 bridges suspended over the canopy. The longest one is 200 meters long, and we spend at least a half hour just sitting on the bridge and admiring the view. Without a doubt, it is the highlight of the trip for me! Spread below us is a small valley completely covered in shades of green. The various textures and size of the foliage enchant us with their beauty.