Blue Skies & Sunshine

Sunday, 11 February

Hello all! I guess it’s time to finally start updating the blog again, now that we’re firmly re-entrenched in our Monteverde routine. Now that it is mid-February, the routine has changed a bit, as it is now well into the dry season. Dry season, or summer (el verano) as the locals identify it, is pretty sharply contrasted with the rainy season, even the very mild one we got this past 6 months. Since we’ve been back in Costa Rica (a month now), it has yet to rain with anything intensity more than a bit of mist, as a cloud drifts through over the mountain tops. The past week or so, we’ve hardly even gotten the typical cloud forest mist! Every day seems unbelievably bright and clear, with deep blue cloudless skies and temps in the high 70’s & low 80’s F.

If there is any real drawback to all this “perfect” weather, it is the ever increasing dustiness of the roads. Each car or truck or motorcycle further loosens the hard-packed mix of silt, clay, and stone and sends up a thick cloud of dust, which can make walking the roads a challenge on some days. Since we’ve gotten back, we’ve made it a morning ritual to walk for at least two hours right after we’ve dropped off Niall at school. Most days we can cover at least 10km, and on occasion we’ve managed close to 20km in a long morning. When we started walking last fall, we often slogged along in mud and drizzle fully outfitted in rain gear—now it’s just shorts & t-shirts!

This past weekend we also had the chance to take advantage of the local volcanic origins of our home. Almost the entirety of Costa Rica has underlying volcanic geology, and aside from the occasional fairly minor earthquake, one of the most obvious signs of this is the large number of hot springs around the country. Most are just small seeps or springs that no one really pays much attention to, aside from the large number of place names like Agua Caliente. But a fair number have been built up into little rustic resorts, principally frequented by locals. We visited some of the closer ones, about an hour down slope toward the Pacific, in Las Juntas. We drove down with two other gringo families from the Institute, so we had a gaggle of 7-10 year olds who all had a ball.

The resort consisted of a very nice lodge, along with a traditional swimming pool at air temperature (about +/-85F), a small, very hot (+/-105F) pool with Jacuzzi type jets in it, and another small pool with moderately warm (95F) water downstream from the hot pool. We all alternated between different pools and different temperatures, and migrated between sun and shade as we all relaxed with a cold beer or margarita. It was VERY relaxing… The only blemish on the day was that after reaching relaxation nirvana, we all had to pile into cars and jounce our way up the mountain on one of the rockiest stretches of highway in Costa Rica. Even so, a great time was had by all!

This weekend we took a long walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. This is the main attraction for real ecologically minded visitors to Monteverde, and we actually haven’t visited all that often as it is both at the other side of town, and right on the highest part of the mountain, so often up in the clouds and mist. This time of year, however, it’s even warm, dry and clear up in the Reserve. We hiked all the way up to the continental divide, where you have a fantastic view out to the Pacific, and well out over the plain toward the Atlantic. Unfortunately, it is just a bit too far to see any ocean on the Atlantic side. While walking on a huge (100+meters long) suspension bridge built over a ravine, we were able to watch a small troop of howler monkeys eating fruit in the treetops only a dozen or so meters from our reach. One of the monkeys (see pics) had a really interesting white foot—sort of a birth-mark I guess… Really amazing!

Well, that’s all for now, and I’ll try to keep up with something closer to weekly entries a bit more often from this point on. Next week, Mom & Pop Shannon arrive, so we should have lots of interesting stories to tell about their visit!

Hasta luego-