I arrived at my next stop, Monteverde, after my fun day of swimming and waterfall gazing at Llanos del Cortés in the late afternoon. Actually, I’m staying in the town of Santa Elena, though this whole area is referred to as Monteverde, after the nearby Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. More on that later, but first, I stopped off at the local Ranario just down the street from my hotel. A ranario is kind of like a zoo, but for frogs.

Since I didn’t have much luck seeing frogs on my guided night hike a few nights ago in La Fortuna, I decided to make this place a priority on this stop. Most of the frogs and toads were hiding too well at this place too. I just couldn’t find most of them. Luckily, the ticket allows you two entrances, one daytime and one nighttime, so I’ll be coming back tonight to try my luck for sure. The frogs that were easy to find during the day, however, were all the poison dart frog varieties.

After enjoying the frogs I took a look at another local attraction just up the road, Ficus la Raiz. This ficus tree has a really crazy root system. Like most things around here it just happens to be in someone’s backyard. The owners of the property discovered they could charge a small fee to let people in and make a decent amount of money. Good for them!

This whole area is surrounded and known for its cloud forests. In fact, there are three separate biological preserves around Monteverde with hiking trails that you can visit. The first one I visited was the Bosque Eterno de los Niños. It was created by donations from children all over the world and is the largest preserve in Costa Rica. Even though it’s the largest, you’re only allowed to visit a tiny little sliver of it. I didn’t really see a whole lot, other than the beautiful bird pictured below, but it was a really pleasant and beautiful walk.

Also right near town, and also in someone’s backyard, is Catarata los Murciélagos (Bats Waterfall). I don’t know why it’s called the Bats Waterfall, I didn’t see any bats. Maybe they’re hiding in those crazy tree roots.

After the waterfall I grabbed an early dinner and waited for the sun to go down so I could go back to the Ranario for my night visit. They keep all the lights off so it’s good and dark, give you a little flashlight, and off you go. I went straight to the red eyed tree frogs, those little buggers we looked so hard for in La Fortuna but couldn’t find. I couldn’t find them at all during my day visit earlier, but tonight, success!

I would’ve much rather have found them in the wild, but I’m so glad I didn’t miss them entirely. And I never thought I would get so excited about finding a frog, but here I am. They’re just so cool looking! All of the tree frogs were out and easy to spot at night. Check out the yellow eyed tree frog below left.

I wish I could remember the names of all of these guys, but I did the best I could.

The first and second runner up for my favorite frogs of the night were the rufus eyed tree frog and the Lancaster tree frog, seen below. Both were tiny, about the size of the tip of your pinkie.

The number one favorite was definitely those red eyed tree frogs, though. Ironically, the frogs that were the easiest to spot during the day, the poison dart frogs, were nowhere to be found at night. Good thing I got the two entries.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve its without a doubt the main reason people come here. And they only let so many people in at any given time so it’s important to buy tickets online the day before and get there early, otherwise you may be waiting a long time. I got there at 730am and the place was already filling up. Luckily I got in and started hiking. Right at the start I ran into a family of coatimundis crossing the trail in front of me. A good start!

I saw quite a bit of wildlife, though it probably wasn’t as exciting as the last stop. This really angry bird had a nest right on the side of the trail. She was standing on this branch yelling at me and a couple of times flew up towards my head to try and chase me away. I think she should’ve picked a better spot for the nest. She probably spends all of every day just yelling at tourists. Must be exhausting!

There were also butterflies flitting around all over. They were difficult to catch for pictures. I was surprised this one let me get so close.

Before heading deeper into the park, I opted to go to the waterfall first, thinking it would be too crowded later. They didn’t even give it a name. It’s just labeled on the map as “waterfall”. Ha!

Right near the waterfall I was lucky enough to spot some spider monkeys. I could only see brief flashes of them with all the trees and foliage, but they seemed to be having fun.

Admittedly, I had help with this next one. A guide with his group spotted this hummingbird in a nest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

It wasn’t all about the animals. These cloud forests are really beautiful and interesting. Some of these trees with their roots and the vines growing around them are just crazy looking.

There was also some time for a common squirrel.

Much deeper into the forest, I apparently startled this snake just as he caught a small lizard. He slithered off the trail with the lizard in his mouth and then I watched him swallow it whole. That’s why his neck looks so swollen in the picture.

This lizard was sunbathing with no snakes in sight.

The furthest you can go out into the park is to this viewpoint at the continental divide. Rain that falls on the left flows to the Atlantic, and rain that falls on the right flows to the Pacific.

On the hike back before crossing the big suspension bridge, I saw this terrifying guy crossing the trail.

The next morning was also an early start to go hike the third and final cloud forest preserve in the area, Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena. The weather in town was pretty nice, but as I gained elevation as I approached the park, I started to find myself in the clouds and getting rained on.

I really dislike hiking in the rain, but I threw on my raincoat anyway and got to it. About five minutes into the walk the light drizzle turned into a deluge. Haha! So, I ran back to the cafe and grabbed a cup of coffee to wait it out.

Luckily, the deluge didn’t last long. Now with a hot cup of coffee in my belly I headed into the park. Aside from this frightening creature below, I didn’t really see any wildlife, except for a few birds. I guess the rain kept them in hiding.

Ironically, despite the lack of wildlife and the non stop rain, this turned out to be my favorite hike of the three. There was almost no one there and hiking around that forest completely engulfed in clouds was an unforgettable experience. And the clouds blowing through the trees gave the forest an eerie sort of beauty.

There also wasn’t a lot of flowers around, but I managed to find a couple. And the occasional mushrooms.

Below is a pic from one of the viewpoints. I’m sure the view is stellar when the clouds clear out.

On the way back I encountered another one of these centipede looking things.

Let’s not forget the interesting trees. The one below left looked like it fell and then just started growing again.

I remember thinking to myself as I was taking all these pictures that they weren’t coming out very good. When I got back to the hotel later and looked at them with proper lighting, I couldn’t believe how amazing they looked!

Anyway, I finished up my day of hiking by going to the main viewpoint and the highest point in the park. The view wasn’t any better from here.

In case you haven’t picked up on this yet, all of the Monteverde area is pretty high up in elevation, at least high for Costa Rica. After my hike through Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena and still wet from all the rain, I headed to what is reportedly the best view around.

Gerardo, who owns the innocent looking farmhouse seen above, has probably the best view in all of Costa Rica from his backyard. Seriously, I don’t know how he acquired this property, but he won the lottery. He’s installed benches all over the hill and let’s people come here to enjoy that tremendous view. Below are a couple of panoramas looking each direction.

Looking a little closer, those buildings all over the hill just below the clouds is Santa Elena. My hotel is in there somewhere. And beyond the ridge and into that sea of clouds is where I spent the day hiking.

In the other direction, toward the coast, that first body of water is the Gulf of Nicoya and beyond that is the Pacific Ocean. Incredible!

My time in Monteverde is now, unfortunately, over. Tomorrow I’ll be leaving the amazing cloud forests and headed to the coast and to what I imagine will be much higher temps. We’ll see. In the meantime, stay tuned for more from beautiful Costa Rica…