Our first overnighter away from SAGO since we left Grenada in September. Everyone very excited. A treat after a week of boat jobs and pre-Pacific crossing checks. We took the bus from Puntarenas to Santa Elena near Monteverde, high up in the mountains, at an altitude of around 1,500m. Very good value for 3 USD per person one-way, meaning 1 USD per hour.
What were the highlights of the trip for the kids?
#1 Spotting cows and horses at the side of the road from the bus window.
#2 Sleeping in a full-size single bed each.
Clearly boat-kids!
We all enjoyed hiking in the cool cloud forest. A forest dangling with mossy vines, sprouting with ferns and bromeliads, and gushing with creeks. Its permanent cloud cover (the result of the trade winds blowing, and the air rising up at the mountains) brings constantly moisture to the forest – even in the dry season. We had our wind stoppers on, the first time since probably the Atlantic crossing, or when traveling to Germany by plane. Photos by Annika!
Found a 3-toed baby sloth!
We stopped on a coffee farm on the way back, getting some coffee straight from there after checking out the coffee plants and how the coffee was made. What an awesome plant.
Another highlight was the Monteverde Butterfly Garden. We learned about scorpions, who glow in UV-light, the female eating the male if she does not like him, or her babies, when they were too slow to crawl on her back after birth; the orange-kneed tarantula who puts venom in her pray to have it as a smoothie; or the ants who like fungus and feed leaves to the fungus to eat it after it has grown. “Like chicken” said Annika. “We feed them so we can eat them”. And about much more critters, like the stick bug, and cockroaches… Here one of our favourite butterflies who looks like an owl from the bottom when both wings are open. Imagine another wing with the same pattern. See it?
Back in Puntarenas, we were back to repairing sails, covers and else. Soon be ready to head off, we thought…
SAGOadventures 