Almost as soon as we got there, Julie, Courtney, Rebecca and I took off on one of the many trails here. We took some great photos, which you can see here. We were so excited to be hiking after two weeks of being stuck in the city. At one point we got really lost and ended up in some farm with some locals looking at us like we were, well, dumb lost American tourists, which was kinda what we were. The best part was when it started to rain. We were under the dense canopy, so no water hit us, but it was shaking flowers loose from the trees. It was literally raining flowers! Some got in Courtney's hair, and I think she decided where she's going to be getting married pretty much on the spot.
The next morning Rebecca and I hiked another trail on our own, which was really beautiful. What was funny was later that morning a resident naturalist took us on the same hike, only backwards. We saw lots of really neat trees and flowers, and a awesome view of a river that I can't remember the name of. At one point, one of the naturalists stomped on a leafcutter ant hill and we watched a bunch of soldiers swarm out looking for a fight. We promptly left. Check out the pictures here.
We did a night hike later that day, which turned out to be a real treat. We saw a cockroach that had to be 5 inches long and 3 inches wide. All the girls screamed like, well, girls. It was pretty funny. We also got to see an opossum. Looking for animals is tricky - you basically shine your flashlight up into the canopy, under leaves, and along the ground looking for a reflection of the light in their beady, malevolent eyes. You can even see a gleam in spider's eyes, provided the spider is big enough (eek!). No pictures, sadly, but a good time nonetheless.
The next day we went to the 'real' Monte Verde preserve, a cloud forest. UGA is sort of a separate preserve that backs up to the national park. We had a local guide who had been working in the park for 16 years! Best. Job. Ever. I took lots of great pictures. The guide was able to make bird calls so well that I had to look at him every time I heard a bird call to see if he was making the noise. We didn't see a lot of wildlife except for insects, which our guide could spot almost casually as he walked along the trail. Then he would set up his $2,000 scope and let us see what he saw. At the end of the trip, I noticed that a bird had pooped on my shoulder, it was so recent a loose feather was still on my shirt. To top it all off, I had a hummingbird land on my finger. There was a little hummingbird garden with planters set out so you could watch them feed, and they would land on you if you put your finger up to the feeder (which you weren't actually supposed to do. Oops).
This is just for my Sweetie. A women's co-op, where they hand make goods for sale as supplemental income. They have a sewing room. Check out the pics here.
Up next was the birding trip. We hiked first in the morning, and then again between breakfast and lunch. We were split into 3 groups, and my group alone spotted over 40 different species of birds in about 5 hours. Poor Julie got eaten alive by the flies, but it was really cool. We watched a little bird beat the life out of a frog by grabbing it by the leg and smashing it on a rock in the road. We also watched a big raptor carry around a vine snake from perch to perch, finding a good place to have lunch. Oh, and we saw some dead things! Check out the pictures here.
Our last day at UGA was busy. We first toured some local farms that grew coffee and other crops. I got to work a real sugar cane press, where you could drink the sugary water freshly squeezed, like orange juice. The coolest part for me, though, was one of the farmer's little girls. She went around picking flowers, then, when she had a handful, presented them to our guide from UGA. It was so sweet I teared up a bit, suddenly really missing my two little girls. It was beyond adorable. Some watery-eyed photos here.
We ended our trip with a zip line canopy tour. Yep, I went zip lining. Oh. My. Heck. What a rush. It's totally safe, and the views are fantastic. Your first few runs are just under the canopy to get you used to riding and breaking. Then they drop you out of the canopy and over a valley for something like 1000 meters, or for you Americans over 3000 feet. And that was the short one. You're easily 100 feet above the canopy, which is in turn about 150 feet off the ground. You can see hills in the distance, foot bridges for the other canopy walks, all shrouded in mists. It was raining pretty good that day, and the water made the pulley wheel spit mud and oil all over our faces and clothes each run. I stained my good backpacking pants, and we all looked like coal miners at the end of the trip, but it was so worth it. The last run must have been about 2000 meters, or over 6,000 feet long. They pair you up because you need lots of weight to make it all the way across. I rode with this girl, a total stranger, and it was so long we ran out of things to scream. We were above a bird soaring over the canopy looking for food.
Sadly, I didn't dare take out my camera on this trip. I was afraid of dropping it. Some other people did, however, so if I get their photos I'll share them. I did buy one photo that the tour company takes of you, just like at Splash Mountain at Disneyland. But of course I forgot it in my room, which is a 15 minute hike from here, so I'll post it later.
Edit: Here's me zip lining. Oh yeah, I'm too sexy for my zip line.
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