Our guide was a nice fellow named Cristobal.We started out down a dusty road, for a quick lesson in picking our way through rocks, fording streams, and dodging occasional farm vehicles.
Our guide told us that this was the last bus that tried to make it down this road in the rainy season.
We then headed into a coffee plantation and road through some nice forested areas.
We probably rode past a hundred birds, but it was hard for Alex to point things out and it was hard to take bird pictures on horseback. We did see a squirrel cuckoo and this lovely Blue-Crowned Mot Mot.
We ended the ride at Don Juan’s Coffee Shop for coffee and delicious rice pudding. Don Juan himself was there to greet us.
For lunch, we went into the town of Santa Elena, where most of us went to Morpho’s Restaurant. We both had a local specialty drink known as “refresco con leche” – fruit juice with milk, almost like a milkshake. Margaret tried the banana and Fran had the guanabana. We both had the typical Costa Rican casado – rice, beans, salad, plantain, vegetables, and meat or cheese.
Afterwards, we walked around town and checked out the local supermarket.
Then we all headed over to the Monte Verde Butterfly Garden for a chance to see some butterflies up close and personal. We’d spotted quite a few in our walks, but never close enough for pictures. This place had four different habitats, so we saw butterflies from all around the country:Low/coastal elevations: Blue Morpho, Owl, Halloween, Mexican Blue, Malachite
Medium elevations: Zebra Longwing, Postman Longwing, Isabell
a Longwing.
Rain forest habitat: Glasswing, Stained Glass, Sweet Oil
High elevation (Monte Verde): yellow patch longwing, ruby patch swallowtail, sulfur .
While at the Butterfly Garden, we saw some more Leaf Cutter Ants – hard at work, chewing their way through the forest….Next stop was the Monte Verde Cheese Factory, established by the Quakers who first settle this area. Lucky for us, they also make ice cream – delicious!
Last tour for this day was a place called the Bat Jungle. It turns out that about 10% of the world’s bat species are found in Costa Rica – and they come in every size and shape. There was a nice glass-walled exhibit with various live bats zipping around inside.
We spotted a summer tanager in the yard – turns out they migrate here for the winter. They’re much more colorful than bats!
After our tour, we joined the owners for some wine or fruit juice and a delicious empanada. We also tasted the chocolate made on site.
We went back to Sofia’s for dinner; we had company for our meal – the resident cat, Lotti. For our meal, we tried three appetizers – hearts of palm, corvina ceviche, and chips with three kinds of dips: guacamole, pico de gallo, and black bean/mango salsa.
