Rolf dropped Ellen off in some ungodly place at some ungodly hour to go birding, then came back to deliver me to the bus in Santa Elena. The bus arrived, not so very fresh from Pulaski County, wherever that may be. If you want to feel like a kid again, come to Central America and ride old yellow school buses! Sometimes they get repainted, but often not.
Monteverde has a huge variety of orchids, but we saw only one. Most of the orchids grow high in the canopy, and they are very tiny. The one we saw was hidden under a big leaf that provides its nice, shady environment. It was brown and white, and about half the size of my little fingernail.
We didn't see a quetzal, the famous irridescent bird that Central America is famous for. In Guatemala, the currency is named for the bird. They are easier to see when the tiny avocados they live on are ripe. The avocados have only skins and seeds, no pulp, and the quetzal eats only the skin.
At the end of the walk we stopped to watch some monkeys, who mainly slept. I ate at the restaurant just outside the gate. We had a better view of the monkeys, and got to sit down, to boot. After stuffing my face, I went to a hummingbird feeding station for a while to watch them stuff theirs, then got back on the yellow school bus for the trip down the mountain.
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