Monteverde: Beautiful scenery and scorpion attack!

We successfully and somewhat reluctantly left the Arenal Observatory Lodge early in the day.  I eagerly anticipated the drive to Monteverde but again admit to some trepidation about the road quality.  Our route took us north to Lake Arenal, and we began our counterclockwise trek around the lake on a nicely paved road.  A stunning site itself, the lake today is a result of a dam that now provides 85% of the country’s electricity.  I’ve no idea what environmental impact there was from building it but there was a town that was displaced when the lake was created.  This is why the nearby town is called “Neuvo Arenal”.  We did not indulge in kayaking, kiteboarding, windsurfing, hiking or mountain biking that make the lake such a popular spot.

We love car rides on curvy roads!

Steep rocky road with hillsides of coffee.

As expected, after leaving the lake, past Tilaron, the road became dirt again.  After a couple of hours of slow, rocky driving and beautiful rural countryside, we successfully reached Santa Elena, a small town in close proximity to the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.  We arrived at the quaint Arco Iris Lodge, a beautiful small hotel dotted with fruit trees bursting with lemons, bananas and oranges.  Little did we know that our idyllic utopia would soon be soured by an unwanted animal encounter. 

Henry and Sullivan were happily playing with some toys in a basket while I was using the wifi in the reception building.  Henry noticed that his finger suddenly began hurting really badly and was turning red and swelling.  We didn’t see any splinters and he didn’t appear to be acutely dying so we agreed just to watch him.  I offered medicine from my kit but he refused.  

The single afflicted digit.

Five minutes later he looked in the basket again and saw a three inch brown scorpion, his attacker!  My heart rate quickened but Hen was just fine.  We told the ladies working there what happened, they looked at the offender, decreed he was harmless and proceeded to ensure he would not ever sting anyone again.  Henry was totally symptom-free within a couple of hours.

The evil attacker.

For a change of scenery we signed up for a guided night hike through a nearby protected reserve, in the complete darkness but with plenty of flashlights.  A natural segue to our first scorpion sting.  Again, an unbelievable place.  I developed a healthy amount of respect for the skills of these guides for finding creatures, especially at night.  We saw more than 20 kinds of animals in those two hours!  Without a doubt for me the highlight was seeing (in the darkness) bioluminescent fungi on a tree with firefly larvae nearby.  Wow.  The deadly green pit viper, snail-eating snake, sleeping toucans, frogs, olingo (fast-moving mammal in the canopy), stick spiders and HUGE mating walking sticks kept our crew quite entertained.  After performing thorough scorpion checks on all the beds, we all slept exceedingly well.

Leaf katydid.

 The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is renowned as one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.  It seemed to us, though, that much of that biodiversity didn’t want to show itself.  Admittedly, it’d be hard to top the night before.  This particular reserve is home to more than 200 species of orchids as well as numerous species of epiphytes (plants that derive their hydration and nutrients from the air alone).  We are ignorant of most of the types of flora, but it sure looks foreign and exotic.  

Erica.  Epiphytes.

The birdsongs were surreal.  For every bird we were able to see I’m sure there were 20 that we didn’t.  We did not spot an elusive Resplendent Quetzal, which we think is the national bird of Costa Rica.  Watched a couple of large tarantulas on our trail and successfully circumvented a large green snake that appeared to be ready to strike if we didn’t move on.  Not sure how much more we would have seen with a guide but had a pleasant stroll during our few hours there.  There was only a small amount of crying over a new stuffed animal monkey for Sullivan because his beloved stuffed puppy Scrappy was left at home in Portland. 

Check your shoes.

Nothing to see here.

As we try to avoid touristy restaurants serving more American food, we ate dinner at a different soda than the night before, which is the Tico name for an informal restaurant that serves “typical” food.  More delicious rice, beans, plantains and juice.  Talked for a while with the family who runs the soda and their toddler granddaughter who greatly offended Sullivan by slobbering all over his beloved stuffed monkey she was playing with.  Another super friendly family.  We managed to avoids any more bites or stings that evening.