Today I went to the reserve. The cloud forest reserve. Yes, that reserve. The crown jewel of Monteverde. I started in Café Colibrí, where I already seem to have a rapport with the family that runs the place. I asked the two guys there if they are brothers. The older one replied disdainfully while pointing to his younger brother, "De ninguna manera. El es feo!" Or, in English, No way, he´s ugly. So, yes, they are brothers, and actually the younger brother is very handsome. Then later, when the younger rother was singing, said big brother, "Callete" which means shut-up, so yes, they are brothers.
I seem to be getting very bold these days when it comes to talking to strangers. I had a pleasant chat with the couple at the next table when I asked where they were visiting from. Minnesota. Then, in the cloud forest reserve, when I was resting on a bench, three rather confused looking visitors around thirty years old, give or take, seemed to have trouble figuring out where they were. So, I tried to help them. Turns out they live just across the water from me on Vancouver Island. The woman looked like quite a badass, and her hat had just as much character as she did. She was also smoking a cigarette, which is prohibited in the forest, but I only pick fights with other Canadians when we are on Canadian soil, otherwise, it just ain't fair to anyone. They were contemplating climbing a very steep path that they had no way of knowing would be very steep, so I warned them. Then looking at her cigarette, I added, especially if you're a smoker. Take it from someone who is twice your age (oh, I just love being able to say that to people!), so they took the gentler route,
Further down the trail things got a bit muddy and I came across a group of four Americans from Illinois struggling to find safe passage, so I gave a hand of assistance to the two older ones (probably the same age as me), but when it came my turn to cross, there was no one there to help me, so I had to do it with extra care and quite on my own. Seems to be the story of my life!
I took another trail back and ended up sharing a bench with three workers in the reserve and we had an interesting and enjoyable visit in Spanish. It feels like I made some new friends. They were telling me a bit about how climate change is also affecting things here in Monteverde, with things being drier than they used to be. There is an onsite restaurant where I stopped for something to eat, but here I haven't even said one word about the cloud forest, which is...Magnificent! Huge towering trees, all wrapped, adorned, swathed and festooned with ferns, moss, epyphytes, flowers, and it is just incredible. I heard, but didn't see a lot of birds. They stay hidden. They're smart. I did hear a few bellbirds. Check this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnu8QbpImWw Something diferent, eh? You almost never actually see them, they stay so well hidden. This is my seventh time here and I still haven't seen one! I have to admit that I'm pretty used to this place, and the awe has worn off for me considerably, but it's still beautiful here.
On the way back to the Mariposa, I ran across three German Shepherd cross dogs, one still a pup. They started barking, but I told them in Spanish Calmense, or settle down, and they all came over tails wgging to be petted, so I have three new friends. Very different from the aggressive dogs behind an electrified fence just down the road. But when I said to them in Spanish, May you be reincarnated as cats, and then told them what bad dogs they were, they shut up and calmed right down.
This has been for me emotionally a difficult and challenging time for me in Monteverde. I am still processing and making sense of a lot of what happened while I was in Colombia, but even though there has been at times, last night for instance, a lot of emotional turnoil, I am feeling positive about this process. I think that I am beginning a new path in life and this sense of trauma is actually a time of preparation. I have never felt so vulnerable and open to others in many many years, and even though the emotions are very intense right now so is the love for other people, and the openess and ability to connect rapidly and instantly with strangers. I am looking forwared to seeing how God further opens things for me in the near and distant future.
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