Monteverde

In the north of Costa Rica, up in the mountains near the Pacific/Caribean watershed lies Monteverde.  The road up there is rough, no tarmac just dirt and stones.  We couldn't see the steep drop-offs as it was pitch dark when we drove up the mountain.

The hotel was nice and dinner was a pizza with Monteverde cheese on it - from the Monteverde factory just down the road! No photos, it was eaten too fast.

Next day was 2 nature walks, one into the cloud forest which, due to a freak of weather was actually quite un-cloudy! The second also into the cloud forest but at night!

Hmmmm, how to split this up. I think I'll do the Animals (non-birds), the Birds and the Plants and Scenery. I'm guessing that will show what most people want to see first :-)

You can find even more photos here if you want the whole lot!

 The Animals

Blue Eyed Norops

Trapjaw Ant

These guys bite with such force that if you put a coin in front of them, when they try to bite it the kickback knocks them up to a meter backwards!

Funnelweb nest

Funnelweb Spider

 These guys aren't deadly like their Australian cousins.

Red Knee Tarantula, and me!

One in it's hole

Side Striped palm Pit Viper

Venomous snake that we stayed fairly far away from.  Our guide spotted it only because the alarm birds (I forget their name) were jumping about making a racket. Our guide thought this one had just eaten.

Dangling fluffy caterpillar.

Couati

More Coati

Your friend is back again!

Golden something frog

Or maybe this is the golden something frog. One of them is. This one was tiny!

Two Toed Sloth.  No, I couldn't work out which way is up either

Male stick insect that wouldn't stay still for a photo

Female stick insect that would

Red Eyed Stream Frog

Noisy buggers of some sort.

The Birds

This first one is the one to make Dad jealous. A Resplendent Quetzal. Out of breeding season even our guide was over the moon to see one. He was literally danicng and singing to himself!

Black Guan (related to a turkey)

Hepatic Tanager

Now, I'm not totally sure which of these is which, but the hummingbirds here could be:
Violet Sabrewing
Greencrowned Brilliant
Lesser Violet Ear
Brown Violet Ear
Purple Throated Mountain Gem
Striped Tail
Magenta Throated Woodstar
Copper Headed Emerald.
I shall leave it as an exercise to the reader to work out which is which.

I can't find this one now, though the guide thought it was quite common.

The Plants and Scenery

I don't know what mostof these are, but they caught my eye and seemed pretty enough for a photo

Heliocarpus seed, or 'sunfruit'