The Drive up to Monteverde

Yesterday morning I left San Jose on the 6:30 bus.  There is one thing that I learned and that is the bus stop is located in a area called Coca Cola and it is not a good area to be in.  I luckily was dropped off right at the stop so I was in a safe place but when you see a group of guys carrying around baseball bats and other various weapons you know you are in the bad part of town.  On the way to Monteverde we stopped once for a bathroom and snack break where I picked up a ginger ale for the rough ride ahead.  This time going up the mountain was beautiful because it was so early in the morning the clouds had not come in yet so you could actually see the landscape and forest.  Below you will find a few pictures of coming up the mountain.

And this is why it is called the cloud forest! Today I will be meeting with the organization that I am going to be working with which should only take about an hour and then I will have time to explore, I'm so excited.  The family that I am staying with here is amazing, they have a beautiful house in the mountainside and have 4 beautiful children (that speak English) and the parents as well as the children make and run an art studio in Monteverde.  So the house is always full of kids running around and the neighbor's children are always over so its about 10 people at every meal!  Will have pictures of the house and family up later.  The ironic thing is that the oldest daughter who is 20 is looking at coming to the US to get a forestry degree and guess what, Mizzou was at the top of her list!  It's crazy how some things work sometime so I am trying to help her by telling her about Mizzou and how beautiful Columbia is and how amazing the school is, so maybe by the time I leave she will have applied and might be coming to the states in January.  So excited to help her with this!