Kirstendiana Jones and Crazy Trees

Even though Amy and I have moved on from Monteverde to Montezuma, I will of course be going back and talking some more about Monteverde, lol. Amy and I had the pleasure of going on a 4 hour hike with Johnny, a guide whose parents own the hostel we were staying at. Johnny was very friendly, spoke English very well, grew up in the Monteverde area, and had a university degree in biology, all of which made him an excellent guide. Sadly for my ass muscles, the first thing he did was take us up an incredibly steep hill for an hour. If there was any bit of me that was in denial about how I had been slacking on maintaining my physical fitness since beginning grad school--where I sit on said ass muscles for 7 hours two days a week for classes, 6 hours for practicum training, 3 hours for supervision, and countless hours for homework, reading, and studying instead of exercising--this denial was quickly drowned by the massive amounts of lactic acid that immediately flooded my lower body, making every muscle scream, "Why, bitch, why?!" But this screaming occasionally subsided when Johnny stopped to show us a beautiful wild orchid or citronella fruit (yes, the kind they make candles from). We also saw a coati, a relative of the raccoon, chilling in a tree. Johnny explained how this coati was a male because it was all alone--apparently, female coatis raise their male babies long enough to make sure they don't die and then promptly chase them out of the pack, where they live solitary lives until nature instructs them to go mate. At this point, they fight viciously with a bunch of other males, and whoever wins gets to mate with anywhere from 30-45 females. The males who lose often go off and die from injuries sustained in these fights, never having sex and spreading their genes. Occasionally, these males survive and live in trees for tourists to spot. Hearing what these poor creatures went through quickly put the pain in my ass into perspective.

Anyhoo, Amy, Johnny, and I eventually made it to the top of the giant hill, much to my body's relief. From there, we hiked through some of the only primary rainforest left in Monteverde. Primary rainforest is rainforest that has never been cut down, whereas secondary rainforest is rainforest that has been allowed to regenerate after the primary rainforest has been cut down; all of the canopy tours, ziplines, etc. take place in secondary forest. You can tell the primary from the secondary because it is much denser. We spotted some random things in this rainforest, including a frogs, butterflies, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. It was a very cool walk through a lot of mud and giant, vine-covered trees, and I kind of felt like I was Indiana Jones. I also miraculously managed not to fall on my butt despite how slippery and muddy the trail sometimes was...take that, jungle!

Amy was tired after our hike and opted out of the night walk that we had scheduled with Johnny. As a result, it was just me and Johnny wandering through the rainforest. First, he took me to a giant strangler fig tree (a higuerón tree) that was hollow all the way up the inside, and whose outside branches formed a kind of ladder that allowed you to climb up through the hollow bit to the top of the tree. Johnny asked if I would like to do this even though it was unorthodox tour behavior, and I, being a fan of tree-climbing, instantly said, "Ohmygod YES!" We put on headlamps and climbed up the inside of the tree. I got a taste of what spelunking must feel like, because at one point the tree got very narrow and I wasn't sure my grad school figure would allow me through this small space. But I made it and we sat in the treetop in the Monteverde rainforest and talked about life a bit. I totally want a tree like this in my backyard someday, wherever I choose to settle down.

Next, Johnny took me to the Children's Eternal Rainforest. You know all those kids asking for money to help save the rainforest? Well, this money has gone a long way and created a 220 km nature reserve. We went to the small part of the reserve that humans are allowed into and wandered down the Sendero Bajo del Tigre, although we didn't see any jaguars. We did, however, see many awesome things, including a sleeping sloth, a sleeping toucan, and sleeping butterflies (apparently many animals sleep at night...that's another thing I haven't done much of since starting grad school). We also saw a tarantula (it took me forever to find my camera so poor Johnny had to keep bating it with a stick) and these crazy porcupines; apparently in Costa Rica, porcupines dwell in trees and have monkey-like tails that they can hang from. It was awesome, and I was sad to leave such a beautiful place. But on to the next beautiful place. :)

written by

kfox on July 6, 2012 from Montezuma, Costa Rica

from the travel blog: Costa Rica!

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