Day 11- Monteverde Cloud Forest
Oct. 6th, 2007 09:05 pm
The photographs I took of hummingbirds are mostly just blurry and slightly ethereal, as if the birds were magical and fairy-like, their presence only temporary and flickering, existing one minute and not the next. Sometimes, in photos, I can see the bright shiny colours of their feathers, but sometimes they just darted away too quickly for me to be able to capture them and that fastness, that hovering, and the fact that if I blinked, they might be gone, made me appreciate them even more.
A guide began to reveal the secrets of the Monteverde Cloud Forest to us, but I remember not really listening to him and instead angling my camera excitedly at an awesome hollow tree in front of me, that was so vast it resembled a cave, or perhaps a labyrinth I should explore more. I think I fell in love with the cloud forest then.
Then after that, was the Sky Trek. Attached to a zipwire, 130m (426ft) high, I soared over the tree-tops and through the clouds, while looking down at the dense forest, basking in mist. I smiled and gasped at least a little, at the trees, so far below me, as I zoomed past.
Then after that, I walked along wobbly suspension bridges, that also hung above the tree-tops and stopped frequently to gaze in wonder at the branches, vines, mosses, think tunks and creeping leaves all combining in an awesome tangle amongst the clouds giving the forest a magnificent feeling of eerieness.
Oh, I stared and stared, beause it felt so unreal, like a weird dream forest full of magic and all kinds of strange creatures and trees.
Photos on Flickr: Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Day 9 & 10 - Waterfalls, frogs, orchids
Oct. 3rd, 2007 03:36 pm
On my way down into the lush wooded valley, I passed a mastate tree and then caught a glimpse of a thin white strip in the distance - the 70m high La Fortuna waterfall. These days I can't gaze at waterfalls without thinking of Bill Viola's video art. If I watch the water long enough, I think that something will happen other than just rushing water.
I dangled my feet in the water at the foot of the pounding waterfall and a yellow butterfly fluttered past, but that was all.
Day 10
On Saturday September 1st, I mounted a white horse and rode around the foot of the volcano and past the lake to get the cloud forest.
I wandered around the orchid garden in the rain and saw orchids that smelt like honey, blood and chocolate, orchids named Dracula, blooms of tiny orchids, orchids that resembled hummingbirds, dancing ladies and bees, orchids that grew on leaves, and orchids that were green and spikey. Orchids are stranger than I had imagined.
Later that night, I visited the frog garden and by torch light, I saw red frogs, yellow frogs, orange frogs, frogs with crowns, frogs with bulbous eyes like in cartoons, frogs that puff out their throats, frogs that make the loudest sounds, gaudy frogs, bullfrogs and cute little baby frogs.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}