Quetzal donde es?

Its only 8pm and I´m buggered! Rich and I left La Fortuna early this morning after a wonderful stay there. Though cloud cover did stop us seeing any eruptions from the volcano unfortunately. Our trip today took us by bus to the Lago Arenal, by boat across the lake, and then combi bus over rough but very scenic roads to Monteverde.

Lago Arenal with the clouded volcano behind

This town is up in the mountains overlooking the Pacific ocean in the distance. The cloud cover generated by the slopes has created fantastic cloud forests and its become quite a popular destination. We dumped our bags in an even cheaper pension and headed straight out to the Monteverde Reserve. We were hoping to spot the elusive Quetzal but failed. Nevertheless, the scenery was spectacular. The forests are just teaming with air plants.

One interesting point in the park was the crossing of the intercontinental divide. Thats the line at which water flows either to the Atlantic or to the Pacific. One minute we were in bright sunshine and the next it was misty and raining! Guess which side this picture is referring to...

The intercontinental divide (towards the Atlantic!)

We´ve just had dinner in town and discussed our next move over a few beers. It looks like we´ll head back to San Jose tomorrow and then down to the far south to see the Corcovado National Park. That area is pretty remote but is supposed to be amazing. We´ve decided to try to do it independently on the cheap so it could well be a complete disaster... But here´s to an adventure!