Day 93: Monteverde Cloud Forest

Days: 93  -   Date: 25NOV13  -   Itinerary: Monteverde, CR

I was up early for breakfast at the lodge so I could be on the bus to the park by 0800. While eating breakfast, a troop of Capuchin Monkeys came down from the trees for their breakfast. I think they’re used to the hostel restaurant cook feeding them some snacks since they were pretty tame and hung around for a while. Really cute little boogers:

CR_25Nov13_004 CR_25Nov13_005My first tour of the day was into the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. I hired a guide for $20 to show me around the park for the next few hours.

My guide Sergio, a really smart guy with a PhD in biology who knows this park incredibly well. He has lived and studied this area for over 20 years.

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We spent 4 hours wandering around the park and Sergio provided a lot of good insightful information but unfortunately today was a quite day in the park.. we didn’t see any monkeys, sloths or other big animals. However, we saw lots of birds and interesting plant life.CR_25Nov13_007 CR_25Nov13_008 CR_25Nov13_009 After checking out the park, we all crammed back into the collectivo and headed back into town.. I think we had about 15 people in this little minivan 😆

CR_25Nov13_010I had just enough time to grab a quick lunch and then into a taxi to the finca for an afternoon tour of a coffee/chocolate/sugar farm.

Lots and lots of photos from the farm tour:

The group checking out some sugar cane plants
The group checking out some sugar cane plants
Our guide, diego
Our guide, diego
Coffee plants
Coffee plants

I didn’t take many photos of the chocolate part since it was old news to me after doing the choco tour in Guatemala 😆

We got to try a shot of sugarcane moonshine and wow.. that stuff had some kick! It burned all the way down! They distill it here at the farm:

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We then saw how they make raw sugar from the sugarcane plants that grow on-site:

Grinding sugar cane the old school way
Grinding sugar cane the old school way

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Melted hot raw sugar (caramel)
Melted hot raw sugar (caramel)

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Finishing the tour with some legit freshly picked and roasted coffee!
Finishing the tour with some legit freshly roasted and brewed coffee!

Overall, a very busy and informative fun day. It think it’s the most touristy stuff I’ve done in one day.

 

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