This past weekend was a pre-planned group excursion to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. This particular rainforest is one of Costa Rica's largest and most popular. It straddles the Continental Divide at 4,662 ft above sea level.

Interestingly enough this Cloud Forest preserve was founded by a dairy community of Quakers from one of the southern states who were looking to escape the war around the 1950s. The community of Quakers are still here, though I hear they're pissed off that the area has become such a tourist spot and are looking to move again, however their dairy farm produces Costa Rica-wide famous cheese and ice cream. This reporter can attest to the deliciousness of both.

You may be asking yourself what a Cloud Forest is. Well, I learned that a Cloud Forest is a specific type of rainforest in which clouds cover the foliage and deposit moisture directly onto the leaves. Even though the clouds don’t actually rain onto the canopy the humidity is so high that the moisture that does make it onto the leaves often drips to the rainforest floor so it feels like it's constantly raining. But it isn't really. But it feels like it. Hey, all I know is I was wet all weekend...who's fault it was isn't really important to me.

We met Friday morning at 8:00am for the four hour ride to Monteverde. ''Four hours??'' I snickered to myself... ''piece of cake!''. Hell, I've done six hours riding the middle seat hump of a crowded taxi to Tamarindo with three sweaty babes, right? What could Costa Rica throw at me that I couldn't handle?? When will I ever learn to stop tempting the fates of the universe!!

Let me preface my transportation description by reminding you that the first week we were here we took a class trip to a local restaurant and for that excursion they rented a TOUR bus complete with plasma screens and two bathrooms. The seats on the tour bus I would have gladly paid to put in my living room, so gloriously comfortable were they. So needless to say I was stoked about the four hour ride cruisin' in style, laid out and watching Happy Gillmore on a personal plasma screen. Well I am left to assume that the hedonist who arranged the bus for the restaurant trip was replaced by an uncaring shrew out to save a few bucks by getting the shitty AMC Pacer throwback, economy sized, fresh out of the shop, sardine bus. This bus had rumble seats. RUMBLE SEATS! The bus was made to hold 13 people, max. But with all of the cleverly concealed unpadded rumble seats it went up to 24 people. Hey, that's how many were in our group! Perfect!!!!

I sat squished towards the rear but was able to wedge my arm out to take a picture...

"Allright" you say, "that's not so bad. Twenty four people with morning breath squeezed into a teeny-tiny bus without seat padding and safety windows that open 1/2'' and offer no ventilation. What's the big deal, whiner?!" Understandable reaction...but you don't know the whole story yet. Sure the trip was a piece of cake at only four and a half hours, but when I looked at the map I couldn't understand why they were allotting so much time for a rainforest so close to Alajuela. From my estimations it should have only taken two hours max.

First mistake: I'd assumed the roads were paved.

Now please indulge me in reimagining the bus scenario but add 60mph on totally unpaved, pot hole ridden, BEING CLEARED WHILE WE'RE DRIVING ON THEM roads. With the requisite half-foot of gravel between you and death.

It's fine, it's just another Costa Rica story and it's not a big deal, but I have to say that those four hours seemed like an ETERNITY! We were thrown everywhere around that bus which careened in and out of potholes with such force that some of the guys started taking bets to see who could hit the ceiling with their head the most. From a sitting position. For four hours. Hey, I'm a good sport and I love to travel rugged but there are limits for everyone, right?

Here is a bus load of miserable, car sick Americans looking for a clean place to puke...

...but we got there in one piece and that's the important thing. And we were treated to some delicious views of the clouds rolling in over the mountains and valleys on the way up.

Also met some friends along the way...

But we finally got to the Monteverde Eco Lodge where we were staying. The Eco Lodge is a combination ecotourist mountain lodge and research facility run by The University of Georgia so there were students, researchers, scientists and guests there which combined to make a very interesting environment.

We would go on guided tours given by a biology grad student and would not only learn about the flora and fauna of the surrounding rainforest but would witness tools used by researchers. It was a really interesting environment. The cabinas we stayed in at the Eco Lodge were absolutely beautiful and more than we'd expected them to be. We were four to a cabin in bunk beds with a beautiful private bathroom and HOT WATER!!! Eureka!!!

The boys and girls cabinas were seperated by a 20 minute walk and in opposite directions (I'm telling you the whole weekend I felt like I was at camp again). There was a main lodge where everyone met, hung out, played games and also housed the large eating area. The lodge was beautiful, all mahogany, and had a great view. It was easy to sit in one of the oversized rocking chairs and read, listening to the different bird calls. I spent all day Sunday doing just that and it was marvelous.

Looking towards the lodge...

and the million dollar view from the porch to the rainforest.

I took up residence quickly. Believe me, you would have done the same.

I also engaged unwitting victims in games of Scrabble and beat them at every game!! (thanks for the practice, mom) Unfortunately I quickly got a reputation as a Scrabble shark and then no one would play with me anymore. The universe punished me by forcing me to watch in silence as others mutilated the game with their pathetic two and three letter words.

Ahhhh...happier Scrabble moments...

So Friday when we got there we ate a nice tico lunch and then went for an intensive three-hour hike deep into the rainforest. This was interesting, extremely interesting. And wet. Extremely wet. We were lead on the hike by a biology student who knew impressive things about plants, animals and insects.

The tour guide is the gal on the right who is pointing. The rest of the group is trying to pretend they understand scientific names of ferns.

We did some cool activities, though, including a portion of the walk "blind". Each one of us was blindfolded and then told to reach to our right where a line of rope was tied as a guideline which if you held onto it while you walked you would be able to follow a trail of about 200' blind. The exercise was meant to take away your sight in order to get you to hear better the sounds of the rainforest. Well two people had already wiped out in huge mud holes up to that point so I was game but not THAT game...I have to admit that I peeked out the bottom of the blindfold frequently. But I got the idea and it was cool.

Here's one kid during the blind walk. As you can see, though, it was already pretty dark in the rainforest because we were an hour into it.

I took many pictures on that hike but none of them turned out because it was really dark and really rainy and not super great for picture taking. However I did have my picture taken on the other side of the rainforest. Here I am after hiking for three hours. Note the excessive amount of wetness...it took three days for my clothes to dry (tip: things don't dry very fast in the rainforest).

We got back from the hike and had some free time before we gathered together for dinner at 6:00. I went back to the cabin, took a shower and then went on a little walk of my own. It was nice to sit in one spot and watch the clouds roll in and out over the mountains.

And that evening we all gathered together in the "mess hall" for a nice dinner. Seriously, the food was made by local tico women and was fantastic!

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00am for a voluntary cow milking excursion. First time I've ever milked a cow! The excursion was only open to six people, presumably because that's about how much fumbling the cow could take from clumsy American hands before she got annoyed. The walk to the small stable was long, muddy and beautiful.

It's a small stable with only five or so cows, but they provide the milk used at the eco lodge we were staying in. They take the milk to the lodge daily, boil it and serve it with coffee, etc. Just to let you know, fresh milk in fresh coffee made with fresh beans grown in the rainforest is exquisite. Just to let you know.

Here we are at the stable, everyone surveying the cow we're about to milk.

...and Don Pedro gives us a little demonstration, making it look very very easy. I was secretly confident I'd fill the pail.

After watching a few girls before me try and fail or only get a small trickle I swaggered up to the milking seat to show them all up.

Don Pedro gives me a little tutorial....

....and I quickly take over....

....and fail. Well, not totally - I do have evidence of a small trickle stream I coaxed out. May have been a pity stream on the part of the cow.

Believe me, though, it's HARD to milk a cow! Your hands have to be like vices and I kept thinking I was hurting her. After 20 years of cow milking I'll bet Don Pedro never has to have anyone help him open jars!

I gave ol' Don Pedro the thumbs up for a job well done. (notice the favor is not returned)

We returned to the eco lodge and later, after breakfast, we all headed in three vans for a drive up to the Monteverde Sky Tours where we had the option of a zip-line tour or a Sky Walk. Having experienced the zip-line already I opted for the Sky Walk and I'm so glad I did. The Sky Walk totally allowed me to see the rainforest from a different perspective. It combines trails through the forest under story with suspension bridges that also let you explore the unknown world of the cloud forest canopy. There are different observational levels starting at the forest ground and ending at the tree tops. The Sky Walk consisted of seven suspension bridges, the highest being 150 ft and the longest being almost 1,000 ft. Let me tell you it was phenominal. I experienced the rainforest like no other, alternately suspended among the tree tops and then walking through trails in the thick of vegitation. I took pictures like crazy but it's hard to capture the rainforest without it just looking like a bunch of trees. Trust me when I tell you it was so much more than that....it was every pattern I've ever seen, every texture I've ever smelled, every relaxing and amazing sound I've ever heard. Being in the middle of a rainforest is like going back in time and glimpsing earth's real origin and understading why we call her mother. Seriously, being alone in the dead center of a rainforest was awe inspiring and I'll never forget it.

I'll try to put it into pictures...

The bridges were such a great touch, the floor of the bridges were metal mesh and the walls were fabric mesh and so although you were on a bridge you somewhat had the illusion of floating because you could see all around you.

I'm standing in the middle of one of the bridges...

...and the bridges lead off to beautiful trails.

The plants were HUGE and prehistoric looking and fabulous!

Everything was huge! The plants...

...the animals...

...and even the spiders! Check out this web!!!!

At the end of the rainforest walk, which took about two hours, there was a special surprise...a hummingbird farm!!!! It was so cool - the hummingbirds in Costa Rica could kick American hummingbirds' asses. They're HUGE! When you walk into the hummingbird park there were about ten hummingbird feeders that you could walk through and about fifty hummingbirds flying around you darting back and forth in and out through the path of feeders. It was crazy and beautiful and amazing! The hummingbirds here are irridescent green and blue with large curved beaks (or are they called bills?). It was hard to get a good picture...they move kinda fast y'know.

Saturday evening we had free time, dinner, and then a fiesta with a Costa Rican DJ and everything! The fiesta was fun and all the youth from the neighboring towns came --- apparently the eco lodge's fiestas are highly anticipated.

Everyone's waiting on the porch of the lodge for the fiesta to start...

...but once the Reggaton kicks in no one can help but dance!!!

It was a great time. And of course you already know how I spent my Sunday. If you don't remember it involved fresh coffee, a Sue Grafton novel and a rocking chair on the porch of a lodge in the middle of the rainforest. We left for home at 1:30 and the drive home was, of course, a repeat of the drive there (halfway through I was regretting all the coffee).

And Bonnie, Cole is doing amazingly well with his Spanish. Although we started on the same level he's quickly surpassing me which really burns me up and makes me practice harder. These last two weeks we've been in class together (the class members change weekly) and he's amazing us all...the school administrators are even talking about moving him up a whole level! He has a great aptitude for Spanish. And as a special treat he's asked me to pass a special picture along to you. So here you are, from Cole to you!!

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And in closing, the beautiful lodge at night.

I had a great weekend there and learned so much, it was wonderful. I have to admit, though, that I'm looking forward to hitting the beach again this weekend! Monday is a Costa Rican holiday which means a long weekend for Neal and I and we're heading to the Caribbean coast down to Puerto Viejo near Panama. It'll be FUN!!!

Pura Vida!