Cloud forest

Finally! After 8 days of intense humidity and puddles of sweat on every bus ride, I am in the cloud forest region where the weather is comparable to the Oakland Hills. Of course the wildlife and vegetation is slightly different here, but the fog, cool, moist air and slight breeze feel like a godsend.

Yesterday involved three different busses and more rough roads that left my rear screaming for a lazyboy recliner. Met some cool girls from Washington, a French Canadian, an Aussie and a Kiwi in my hostel room (only cost $4/night!) and hung out with them for a bit.

This morning I went to the Monteverdi Cloud Forest Reserve and hiked through knotted vines, hanging mosses, floating butterflies and darting hummingbirds. Two hummingbirds appeared to be paying little attention to where they were going and flew directly into my chest - I'm not sure who was more startled! Tomorrow I have signed up to do a "canopy" tour through the cloud forests. From what I've heard, this tour has more than 3 km of cable and one zip-line (the longest in South America) travels across a canyon spanning over 700 meters!

Thanks to all of you who have been sending e-mails and leaving comments! I really enjoying hearing from you all! I promise pictures are coming soon (probably tomorrow)...