The Belmar just keeps on delivering. We had a fantastic breakfast, the tastiest eggs I’ve had in years, scrummy bacon, fresh pineapple, homemade granola drizzled with local honey and the best banana cake ever…what a feast to set us up for the day!
We were on the first tour of the day at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, hoping that the 7:30 am start would give us a better chance of seeing the local wildlife. The first hour was a bit of a wash, more flora than fauna and we felt like our guide was clutching at straws to find something exciting to show us; he was getting very enthusiastic about moss, ferns, macro orchids and lichen and just as I resigned myself to the reality that the tour would be more about enjoying the trees than seeing the wildlife we spotted the most fabulous sloth in a tree.
He was really big and surprisingly active. His soaking wet fur provided an eco-system for the moss and bugs clinging to him which we could see clearly through the telescope. He slowly moved closer and closer towards us before staying put and staring us out in a perfect pose for the cameras. This sighting was definitely a highlight of the vacation.
It was as if the sloth was the opening act because within minutes of moving on we saw a male and female quetzal, the national bird and very rare to sight. The male was stunning with bright blue coloring and long tail feathers. Then from a long distance through the sighting scope we saw a green viper – very poisonous so I was happy for it to be a long way away.
The tour was supposed to be 2 hours but our guide got so excited about these sightings he extended it to 3 and what we initially though was going to be a let-down ended up being really special.
After the tour we went back to the café to view the hummingbirds again but a coach party had just dropped off so rather than yesterday when we had the place to ourselves, it was a bit of a zoo. Instead we went back into the reserve and did a self-guided hike for a couple of hours which took us to a continental divide viewpoint (couldn’t see anything because of the clouds) and over a hanging bridge. No wildlife sightings, I think it really is worth paying to have a guide with you in Monteverde otherwise it’s just a pleasant (damp) walk in the woods.
Before heading back to The Belmar for Tico Time we drove round a couple of zip line outfitters deciding which one to give our money to tomorrow.