I knew the cloud forests in Costa Rica are important but I didn't really know what a cloud forest was. I had heard of Monteverde Cloud Forest which is the most famous one but not the Los Angeles Cloud Forest where we are. Today I got some answers to my questions. A Cloud Forest is pretty much what it sounds like --- a forest that is in the clouds (or fog) a lot of the time. In a Cloud Forest the rainy season lasts about ten months of the year and the dry season is the other two months. Vertical rain (rain falling down from the sky) is rare, horizontal rain (rain from humidity ---- when you are in a cloud it's about 100% humidity) is common. I assume the guide was not pulling my leg when he said the Los Angeles Cloud forest gets 5 feet of rain a year. Though, the Los Angeles Cloud Forest is at a lower altitude than the Monteverde Cloud Forest and is smaller, you still experience a cloud forest plus you avoid the crowds. Some day I may still want to visit Monteverde but I did enjoy my visit here.

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Picked an appropriate T-shirt to wear today ---- Onward Thru The Fog. I bought the T-shirt in Newfoundland and didn't realize how appropriate it would be for Costa Rica.

Once again we are staying in a casita and it is quite nice. The main building here at Villa Blanca is very beautiful. Even though it has been hovering between 95% humidity and 100% humidity I'm really enjoying the weather ---- it's a nice temperature so I'm not hot and sticky.

We started the day visiting the dairy herd and the baby cows. The babies are 5 days old, 2 months old and two that are 5 months old. Very cute.

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This is the 5 day old calf.

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We even got to takes turns milking ---- it's hard work even after the fellow in charge of the cows got the cow primed and ready to milk. The calves are bottle fed and we helped with that as well.

On the way back from milking the cows we stopped to visit the La Mariana Wedding Chapel. It's very pretty and I can see weddings taking place here.

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Looking up at the chapel through the cloud.

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The ceiling of the chapel is made from 850 hand painted ceramic tiles.

In our wanderings Ed and I found the Research Building. The boss was away, but a volunteer who is from Germany was there along with a young woman who will soon be leading tours. They were very friendly and told us about the research centre.

Next item on the agenda was a talk followed by a guide led hike. I wasn't impressed with the talk as it was a bit too much of an infomercial for the hotel and it's three sister hotels. The hike on the other hand was pretty good, especially when the hotel fellow finished his part of the tour and the naturalist from the research centre took over. On the tour we watch some Leaf Cutter Ants, saw a deadly venomous snake, saw and heard birds and watch the guide plant a tree. Not sure I we watched the tree planting except I think that they want the tourists to see that cloud forest is being cared for.

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A flower shot .... I haven't actually posted many photos of flowers on this trip.

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Red bananas and a Side-striped Palm-Pitviper --- bites can be serious, but fatalities are rare.

After a fabulous lunch, several of us went to visit the Hummingbird Gallery, a spot in the forest that had several benches and several hummingbird feeders. We must have timed our visit well as upwards of six hummingbirds visited the feeder. It's really hard to tell how many unique birds there were as they fly away and come back. There definitely were at least eight hummingbirds as we saw two Crowned Woodnymphs at one time, five female Green-crowned Brillants at one time and one juvenile Green-crowned Brillant.

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Green-Crowned Brilliant.

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Green-Crowned Brilliant.

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Crowned Woodnymphs.

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A Crowned Woodnumph and a Green-Crowned Brilliant.

After spending a fair bit of time watching the hummingbirds, Ed and I continued along the nature trail. We found more Leaf Cutter Ants, a new road that is being built and some interesting plants. A number of birds flitted by and serenaded us. A couple more flower photos.

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Tonight is our last night as a group and we will enjoy a farewell dinner. I have high expectations as lunch was so good. Tomorrow we'll be on the bus by 9 am heading for the airport. Our flight leaves at 1:07 pm. We have a stop over in Miami and will finally arrive in Toronto at 11:30 pm.