Obsessions of a One-Year-Old

27 May

Hello Blog – its been awhile….we bought a house, we are packing, we are finishing last minute renos, work is busy….excuses, excuses.

Life with Max has always been entertaining, but the entertainment factor has multiplied since he turned one.   Max is walking and running and climbing and squealing and throwing his food and throwing tantrums.

Oh the attitude! Oh the fun!

And when you can walk – your world is something one foot higher and 100 times more exciting than when you were just crawling.  Accordingly, Max is developing some strange obsessions.

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Our neighbour’s Pug

Max has always loved dogs – but his first run in with a pug has taken this obsession to the next level.  The first time he saw the four-legged-scrunch faced pup he could hardly contain himself.  His eyes doubled, he tried to clap his hands but was so excited he just couldn’t get them to meet so they just flapped about.  He smiled. He squealed. The poor pup didn’t know what to do so it just snorted and snuffed around Max’s legs, which made Max squeal with even more joy.

Wheels

Shopping carts, parked cars, motorcycles, bikes.  The kid doesn’t like wheels – he loves them. They turn. And he can turn them.  Its pretty exciting stuff. When we walk around the block sometimes, an especially nice pair of hub-caps catches his eye. He drops everything and makes a bee-line for the car. Really. What kind of mom lets their one-year-old touch someone else’s filthy, greasy car wheels. Who would do that?  (A mom who wants to avoid tantrums at all costs…)

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Ceiling Fans

Really? Is there anything more fascinating than a ceiling fan? Maybe just a plain old self-standing fan (and here is an aside -and a tip to try for moms and dads suffering sleepless nights, since its been hot, we’ve had the fan on in his room.  Since we’ve had the fan running, Max has miraculously started sleeping through the night.  Maybe its  the white noise? Who knows? I’m realistic and know ts unlikely to last, but I will take what I can get and enjoy every uninterrupted moment of sleep Ican).  Back to the fans. Every time we go anywhere with a fan Max stares at it like he is in a trance. He points, and insists that we visit the fan.  What would Max’s world be like without this most marvellous invention?

Velcro

Here is where cloth diapers begin to fail. Max has figured out how to undo them – and take them off – I’m sure that disposables would be no different – although those pull-ups might be a tad tricky.   Max slept in this morning – and it was wonderful.  When he woke at 5:30 (daddy -its your turn)…and then again at 8!!!!!!!!!!! I danced into his room, remembering what sleeping in to 8 felt like.  I picked him up expecting the padded, plasticky feel of a diapered baby bum.  Not this time. It was bare, and it was wet.  He’d probably been awake for an hour, learning how to undo his diaper, plotting his revenge for the extra hour of sleep he permitted me.  A wet crib though,  is a small price to pay for that extra hour of sleep.

Sausages

Dad loves food. Mom loves food.  Max loves food.  Luckily most  of us also love sports (I’m not sure I can speak for Max yet in this department).  There seems to be nothing the kid won’t eat…and he loves sausages.  Just the smell of them when we drop him off at daycare and he dives straight for the plate, forgets his whining routine – and it is most definitely a routine –  and doesn’t even wave good bye. He’s on his third sausage before he’s even realized we have left.  We wish it was sausage day every day.

Dirt

Ok. Maybe where we live its not exactly the great outdoors (but our new place is on the edge of Gatineau park, with trails out the back, and an acre forested lot). But there is dirt,  there are leaves, and there is grass.  What else does a one-year old need? Just don’t try to get him to come inside when there are leaves to play with and holes to dig.  How dare you mommy?! I’ll throw a one-year-old tantrum if you don’t abide by my rules! 

Electronics

I don’t understand it. We’ve given Max our old remote controls that we don’t use.  But, he know its just a ploy. They don’t work. They do nothing. They are pure junk.  He needs the real one. The one that turns things off and on.  And when he gets the real one. And no one notices, as quick as a super-one-year-old he flips open the toilet lid (another obsession) and tosses the controller inside.  Just to remind me that he really is the boss, and I am just a lowly, 10-time-a-day floor washing slave.

And that my friends, is the world of a one-year-old boy….dogs, ceiling fans, wheels, sausages and dirt.  Come to think of it – I think most grown men are into the same stuff.  Just saying.

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The Shopping Chronicles

14 May

Have I mentioned Max is walking? Its been one week, and he’s gone from one-step to full on Rugby training.

Photo Courtesy of the Lovely and Talented Kathryn Ward

Of all days and nights that Max could have decided that he was done with life as a quadruped it was after watching my mom run. I’d like to take the credit, but I was half an hour behind her for the 20km race. He was likely bored by the time I managed to cross the finish line.

Now, Max has my genes, and he apparently has his grandma’s so simply walking isn’t enough. He’s entered into a full on training regime of squats and strength training in the form of shopping cart pushing. Oh, and shopping cart pushing…..

Courtesy of the Kat Ward :) Thank-you!!

The kid is completely and utterly obsessed to the point of full on back-arching tantrums, tears and screams if we don’t let him push the cart.  Its cute. At first. (not the tantrums the shopping cart pushing). There is Max, in his bare feet, because although we believe in shoes, we usually can’t find them and I’m still not use to the fact that he actually needs them now, waddling along the filthy shopping aisles, pushing the cart with all his might while I loop a finger in the back of his shorts thinking that that might save him from the face plant when the shopping cart excels out of his reach. It doesn’t and when he does land face first on the floor all the shoppers that had previously smiled at me thinking how cute my little guy was suddenly wonder what kind of demon mother I am making my son push the cart to the point of exhaustion that he lands on his face. Cute. And then full on embarassing when its time to pay, and I’ve taken 45 minutes to pick up milk, and as much as I love the metro, its really not my favourite place to be and I want out. There is a house to clean and dinner to make.  Cute turns into full on embarassing when we go to the check out and he continues to insist on pushing. It gets even worse when I turn my attention to emptying the cart and he ploughs into the ankles of the poor lady ahead of us.  All this strength training builds up an appetite, so, once I’ve wrestled him back into the cart, he grabs whatever he can – unwashed celery stalks are the nutritional supplement of choice.  Once he’s got his fill he grabs a lemon and gnaws on it through its peel with his 4 razor sharp raptor teeth like its, well, anything but a lemon. This is a battle not worth fighting, so I let him win, because, well, I don’t want to interrupt the zen like wanders of the other shoppers….


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Our little Secret – The Yummiest and Easiest Bread Recipe You’ll Ever Try

7 May

I betcha y’all thought that with Rob and I both working now, our freshly baked bread days were over.

Nope not even close.

I confess maybe we aren’t munching on slow-rise baguette every other night (thank-god because I would have never fit back into my suits) but we still haven’t bought a loaf of bread since I wrote about the “bread challenge” back in September. Its been a delicious journey from naan to tortillas to baguette to american sandwich bread.  I did worry that going back to work might put a little wrench in our plans…but luckily, I came across the most amazingly, delicious bread recipe on what I think is the best food blog out there: www.foodess.com

Now there is one problem with this recipe – its made us a little sluggish in our bread baking endeavours….its so good and so easy, that its hard to convince yourself to nurture a loaf that requires a little more care.

This recipe can be summarized as the following: Bowl. Ingredients. Stir. Fridge. Two Weeks. Oven. Fresh Bread. Yep – its that easy.
The longer the bread stays in your fridge (up to about two weeks), the more  it becomes more like a sourdough with larger air  holes. Its also pretty delicious after the initial rise.  Personally, I can’t tell you how it tastes after 2 weeks, as it never seems to make it past a few days at our house. Sunday evenings now, we make sure that we have a batch of gooey dough in the fridge ready to bake up for  sandwichs and snacks for the week.  Once the dough is in the fridge, the only planning needed is enough time to pre-heat the oven, and bring the bread up to room temperature.  Its less than 60 seconds to cut and shape the dough, and hey if your loaf isn’t perfectly round, its rustic artisinal bread!

Enjoy – and let me know what you think!

We’ve adapted this recipe just a little bit from foodess.com.  Her original recipe was adapted from  ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

Artisan Bread

    • 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
    • 3 cups  warm water
    • 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough (*you can replace about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of white flour with any whole grain flour with great results).
    • Cornmeal

1. In a large bowl, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups warm water. Add flour, and stir to combine completely. Cover and let dough rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it rises and collapses (up to 5 hours – or even overnight won’t hurt it). After this initial rise the dough may be baked if you like.

2. Cover dough, but make sure it is not airtight as gases need to escape, then place it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks . Whenever  you feel like fresh bread, use a serrated knife to cut off an approximately grapefruit size/1 pound chunk of dough. Turn it in your hands, stretching the dough to form a smooth ball, with the bottom bunched underneath.

3. Dust a pizza peel or any flat surface with cornmeal or flour to prevent sticking (we place  the flour/cornmeal on a piece of parchment to allow for the easy transfer of the loaf) and allow the formed dough to rest in a warmish place for at least 40 minutes, but not more than 90.

4. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven while the dough is coming to room temperature, and crank the oven to 500 to get the baking stone nice and hot.  If you don’t have a baking stone go get one (kidding – just use a regular baking sheet – but really we love our baking stone), simply preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking sheet overturned on a middle rack. If you are using a baking stone, once the oven comes up to temperature, decrease the oven to 450 degrees.  Once the bread has sat out  for 40 + minutes throw a dusting of flour on the loaf, and then slash it 2-4 times with a serrated knife – however you like, we often just do a simple cross -get creative.   Put 2 cups of water in a shallow pan and place on the top rack of the oven. Slide the loaf onto the baking stone, and if you have a spray bottle mist the dough with water, closing the oven door quickly to keep the steam inside.   Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

5.  Let the bread cool on a wire rack – then dig in and enjoy.

Easy…wasn’t it :)

Happy Baking!

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A Week of Firsts

6 May

What a week. A week of many firsts of milestones, adjustments, lessons and slight exhaustion.  Its now Sunday at 2PM, Rob is cleaning, Max is napping, well ok, he isn’t napping, he is lying in his crib making “farting noises” with his lips, but he isn’t crying (yet), so I’ll leave him for a few minutes. I feel like its the first time I’ve stopped. Although blogging isn’t necessarily on the top of my “must do” list (cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning out the fridge, prepping meals) its definitely up there with sleep on what I’d like to be doing.

First Week of Daycare:

This  week was the week that every new mom dreads. The first week of leaving your baby in the arms of a kind and caring stranger, aka the babysitter. I think that going back a few months early, and having Rob stay at home with Max made a tremendous difference  (at least for me). Going back to work is hard enough. Leaving your wee one under the care of someone you hardly know is even harder.  Most moms deal with both almost simultaneously, so having the opportunity to get used to work in January, so I could get used to the babysitter in May really helped.  There were tears, there were a few calls to make sure everything was ok, there was walking up the stairs and out of our sitter’s apartment with the sound of Max’s protests ringing in my ears (but which also stopped within about 10 seconds of my departure) but in the end, it was ok.  I know that it is a great environment. His sitter is a generous, intelligent and caring lady, there are 2 other boys just a few months older than Max for him to hang out with, new things to learn and outings and adventures to be had. I’m not saying it was easy. But it is ok.

First Birthday:

On Wednesday my little Max turned one! In so many ways this first year felt like an incredible accomplishment. All the little thrills and challenges came rushing back. Holding him in my arms and kissing him for the first time, waking up the first night with him sleeping soundly between Rob and I, the first night leaving him in his room, in his crib,  our travels and adventures.  We made a valiant attempt at a picnic despite the cool weather, picking up a few snacks at La Bottega and heading to a local park after work.  We froze. We realized that toddlers and picnic food on a blanket aren’t necessarily a great mix (next time set up on a picnic table), but it was a great little evening.

First Birthday Family Photo

 

 

First Steps:

Max has been standing and squatting and stair climbing for quite some time, but having the confidence to take a step or two without momma’s or dad’s hand seemed a little ways off.  Yesterday though, everything seemed just a touch different.  He was holding onto our pinky fingers, but not quite needing to, I also think he might have had some top secret lessons from his grandma who was in town.  After dinner, Rob and I placed him on the floor between us, steadied him, and he went.  The first few he sort of fell into our arms, but after just a few minutes, we increased the distance between us, and Max went from taking 1 to two to seven, eight even nine steps. There is no looking back!

 

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Costa Rica Part 3 – Surfing A La Dominical

29 Apr

After our Arenal adventures we headed far south….way farther south than we should have planned considering the length of our trip…but hey, someone had said “check out Manuel Antonio” and when you have an hour to plan, you don’t always look at distances…and well, Rob had booked Domincal thinking it was close to Manuel Antonio….because it was in the same chapter of the Lonely Planet. I gave him quite the lecture about his novice LP reading abilities, insisting that because it is in the same chapter, doesn’t necessarily mean close.   In the end, it was only about 45 minutes away.  In the end, we didn’t even bother visiting the park.

After a long but beautiful drive, we arrived in Dominical.  Dominical is the definition of laid-back. Its a small town…so small we missed the turn off entirely on our first drive through….The town stretches out across some gorgeous west-coast beach.  It doesn’t take too long to see why this is a town that many come to, and few leave…and those who do, don’t want to – not one little bit. What I would do to be there right now! Mmm…that makes me think of the delicious Basil-Passion Fruit Margaritas at “Tortilla Flats” a very fun little bar in town.

If you want a vacation in a laid back surfing town, this is the place. The beaches are gorgeous, the waves are perfect for novices like me, and not that one surfing lesson makes me an expert, but from what I saw, people who have been surfing for awhile can also have a great time.  There are lots of cute restaurants and accommodation for every budget. As soon as we arrived, our plans for Manual Antonio started to change…this was a place to relax and surf, relax and surf, relax and surf.  We asked about some lessons.

I’d surfed once before, and it had been mostly cold and frustrating. The guy I had been dating at the time had annoyed me too such ends that we actually broke up following an unpleasant drive home where he told me he couldn’t handle listen to my repetitive “Snow Patrol” CD over and over and over. By the way, that is my relationship rule #1, if you can’t spend more than 4 hours in a car with someone, its over. If any of you out there have any traveling ambitions with your future partner, I highly recommend that the road-trip test be taken – and that the results be strictly adhered to.

Back to Dominical. We did have one “problem”. Max.  Ok…ok…not a problem, but as much as I was enthusiastic about Rob trying to surf, because he never had,  I really really really wanted to go too.  We asked around at the last minute about a babysitter (with advance planning, people were willing to bend over backwards to help us out).  If you want to see me sulk, try making me think that someone else is going to get to do something super cool and I won’t….

Family Footsteps

Now, that is where our fabulous instructor Dylan came to the rescue.  Now Dylan runs Sunset Surf Dominical: http://www.sunsetsurfdominical.com/, and Dylan is fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. He is a great guy, a fabulous instructor, passionate about what he does, and very very good.   We met him for “Rob’s afternoon lesson” – he asked if we’d had any luck with a sitter…I must have looked like a kid who got nothing but coal for Christmas when I said no. He’d spent the afternoon asking around too, but without any luck.  ”I can take you both out” he said “you can just take turns on the water”.  The sulk that I’d been wearing all day immediately disappeared.

Proof you can wear a baby, and not much else

We headed to the beach and Dylan brought us a big shade umbrella for Max.  Max, met, sand.  Max, loved, sand. Max spent the next 2 hours playing in sand, eating sand, rubbing his sand covered hands in his eyes, getting sand everywhere (I’m not kidding when I tell you that I dumped a pile of sand out of his diaper bag today).

Dylan gave us a quick lesson on the beach, then Rob and I took a few turns and it was amazing. In the past, I’ve been a little nervous around big waves, and never appreciated being thrown around…this seemed different though.  Under Dylan’s guidance, it was absolutely pure fun…or as they say in Costa Rica Pura Vida.  Rob and I were both balancing on the board in no time, and by the time our session was done we were turning (while…me… just in one direction).  We left the beach talking about how our next vacation should be a week long  surfing trip…in Dominical…..and with Sunset Surf. We threw our plans for Manuel Antonio out the window, and planned instead to rent boards the next day for a few hours of surfing before our trip home.  I contemplated missing my plane, if it meant that I could stay just another few days….


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Trip Report: Costa Rica – Part 2 – in the shadows of Volcan Arenal hotsprings and a trek up Cerro Chato

23 Apr

Buzzing on way too much coffee, the mid part of our trip brought us to the area surrounding Volcan Arenal.    The landscape around Arenal is gorgeous.  A pretty lake is surrounded by rolling countryside, under Arenal’s shadow. Think rolling country side meets the jungle.  Until 2010, Arenal was Costa Rica’s most active volcano and 10 years ago, I spent one of my best New Year’s Eves in some Hot Springs under the shadow of the volcano, so there were definitely some moments of deja vue.  We stayed at a basic hostel with walls which were way too thin…and who am I kidding, it was way too “zen” and “finding yourself” for my tastes. And on that note…what is with all the backpackers and their collapsable hula hoops? Clearly there is some trend that has completely passed me by.  Max woke up in a fit of terror in the middle of the night, and we definitely had our revenge on the neighbours who clearly didn’t have an 11 month sleeping between them on the bed.  Hey, but really, what can you expect for  $14 dollars a night, although, travel tip, thick walls are generally important, and made even more so when you have a baby.   We took off for some exploring the next day at dawn break (did I mention, Max woke us up at 5Am every day insisting that we pack as much into our schedule as possible?). Partly I wanted to avoid the your baby woke us up glares, and partly, I wanted to avoid seeing the amorous couple whose room was on the other side of the paper thin walls and who I felt I knew all to well, without having a clue what they looked like.

We had heard some rumours that “Cerro Chato”, a dormant volcano on the southwest side of Arenal  was a challenging but beautiful hike  slog.  The reward at the top is an emerald lagoon surrounded by lush rain forest. On a clear day, you can see Arenal.  Many were pretty surprised to see us attempting the hike with Max, and my muscles definitely protested the 23 extra pounds, but it was a great challenge.  We made it to the top, took a dip, and then started the trek back down.

Rob and Max Cerro Chato

Of course every challenge has its rewards…or really, I’d never test myself.  We finished the hike tired, dirty and sweaty. The hot springs in the areas had been in the back of our minds, but we weren’t set on it.  The hike changed our minds. Suddenly we deserved it.  Of course, Rob didn’t need such convincing or justifying.  We decided to check out Tabacon (http://www.tabacon.com/) …the porsche of Arenal’s hot springs.  Now….as much as its great bringing Max on all of our adventures, this was definitely one of the ones where it would have been darn nice to leave the little guy at home and have some romantic mom and dad time.  The entrance fee isn’t cheap, but the resort has a series of waterfalls and pools, surrounded by gorgeous gardens, its one of the times where its worth just paying the entrance fee and for the overpriced drinks and enjoying yourself.  Really, Tabacon is luxury at its finest.  There are enough separate and secluded pools that you could easily spend an afternoon simply relaxing and enjoying, and still having a little privacy.   The water is hot…definitely too hot for an 11 month old so we had to take turns going into the pools and handing off Max.  Not perfect, but really, we were in gorgeous hot springs, surrounded by incredible gardens in the shadow of a volcano.  It was still pretty sweet – but could it ever have been romantic if we had been max-less. Oh and here is a travel tip and something we wish we had known.  I had had an inkling that there were “free” hot springs somewhere. I mean really, just because someone sets up a resort, the water is still coming and going from somewhere. Sure enough, we got back from Tabacon and someone asked “did you go to the free hot springs?” Free hotsprings? What? I’d actually done a fair bit of googling prior, and my sleuthing did not reveal free hot springs.  Supposedly though, a little off past the turnoff to Tabacon, on the right hand side heading away from La Fortuna is a yellow gate.  Park the car, go through the gate, wander, and voila, free hot springs. I’ll have to go back and check them out one day.

Our time in the Arenal was way too short.  Another fatal flaw of a 1 week trip – trying to cram way too much in- but really, there isn’t one thing I’d give up or swap…ok I take that back, wrong turns on bumpy roads.  We headed back to our thin-walled hostel, slept, and were up again the next day for our long drive down the coast to try our hand at surfing – and eating sand of course.  But, I’ll save that post for another day.

Buenos Noches!

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Trip Report: Costa Rica – Part 1 – Monteverde Cloud Forest – why you should pack your bags and your kids and go right now!

18 Apr

Max isn’t yet 1, and with this recent trip to Costa Rica he’s been on 13 flights – he’s a lucky guy…and we are pretty lucky parents to have a wee one that travels so well.  Its just too bad he won’t remember all of his adventures – I do wonder though, how these experiences, at even such a young age might shape the boy he might turn into.  Of course I hope he will be a globe-trotting, adventure seeking teenager, but, given he has his daddy’s genes, and his current obsession with the Xbox controller, I think there might be a higher chance that I’ll be begging him to turn off the damn Xboxnintendoplaystation…or whatever that machine I still don’t understand will be called 13 years from now.

Less than 60 seconds of thought went into choosing Costa Rica as our next vacation destination.  If you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not.  All it took was a little advertisement that said “Flights, Liberia, $1 (plus taxes).”  Decision made.  Oh yah, I did have to run it by Rob and my boss, but considering that denying this demand would have been on par with a five-year-old receiving a chunk of coal in their Christmas stocking, both knew better than to say no.

Within 15 minutes the flights were purchased.  This was Monday. By Monday evening we’d decided where we wanted to go (Monteverde, Arenal and Manual Antiono – which we infact skipped in the end). By Monday night our hotels/car rental was booked.  Tuesday I frantically tried to get my files in order for work. We packed Tuesday evening, and Wednesday we made the 5 hour drive to Toronto so we could depart first thing Thursday morning. This was last minute even by my standards.  Even more scary was that I had to leave all the packing up to Rob. He passed the stay-at-home-travelling poppa test with flying colours, only forgetting our sunglasses and his bathing suit.

Enough about that, onto gorgeous, wonderful Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is a wonderful, fabulous, beautiful country.  For anyone who wants to go beyond the resort vacations (which they have as well), and do a little “adventure/eco-tourism” there is great infrastructure (minus some rough roads), tremendously friendly folks, decent food, and enough to see and do to please everyone of any taste for months. One week was not nearly enough.

For those of you with attention spans shorter than mine, I’ll break our Costa Rica adventures into 3 posts.  Here goest the first one: Monteverde Cloud Forest.

Monteverde Cloud Forest

Our first stop was the Monteverde Cloud Forest.  The drive up to Monteverde is rough…made more so by the wrong turn we took.  Driving down an already rough road a farmer flagged us down.  ”Monteverde” he said.  We nodded “Si”.  He then pointed towards what hardly amounted to a steep trail.  I thought for a moment that it was some kind of sick joke that the locals played on tourists. It wasn’t. And Ticos are way too nice to even consider such a thing. It was the route to Monteverde (there were others that were better, but to find them would require a navigator better than myself).  We bounced along the road, Rob pretending he was a rally car drive in our piece of junk Suzuki Jimny -who has even heard of a Suzuki Jimny?  I held on for dear life and kept looking back to make sure Max wasn’t being thrown too violently from side to side. I was fairly certain that a flat tire was just a matter of time and started to figure I could “run” for help, and leave Max and Rob to fend for themselves amongst the deadly snakes and tarantulas.  At least we’d had enough foresight to buy some bananas, dulce de leche caramels and milk.  We probably wouldn’t starve.

Monteverde Cloud Forest

We made it to Monteverde (without a flat tire) a little later than we had hoped, checked in, had dinner at a very cute, but over-priced cafe, with a great atmosphere Tree House Restaurant and yep, you guessed it, there is a gigantic tree in the middle of the restaurant.  Max flirted with other children, was enthralled with the musicians, and the waiter took him on a walk to greet the other customers.  I started to relax.

The next day we headed off to the Selvatura Park: http://www.selvatura.com/ - an adventure park in the cloud forest with zip-lining for the adventurous and young children-less, and canopy walkways, hummingbird gardens and butterfly gardens for all the rest of us. In retrospect we may have enjoyed wandering a more quite portion of the park, but the opportunity to walk in the canopy sounded too good to pass up  - and it was indeed pretty neat to be among the upper reaches of incredibly tall trees.  The walk was lovely. Trees and moss draped us in shades of green and a cool, gentle mist filled the air. Max looked around happily until the fresh air got the most of him and he drifted fast asleep in his carrier.

The walk was followed by a visit to the Hummingbird Garden and a butterfly garden.  I had to keep my expectations in check following a visit to a butterfly garden, which was void of even a sad little moth in Guatemala.  The ones here did not disappoint.  The butterflies were gorgeous; the hummingbirds buzzed around our heads. It was definitely pretty cool.


Although Monteverde is definitely on the tourist trail, its a great little town, and you can easily make your way off the tourist track and explore the reserves (there are 3, Santa Elena, Monteverde and the Children’s Eternal Rainforest – I love the name, and the concept even better – this forest was preserved through the contributions of school children all over the world.). Avid hikers and explorers could easily spend weeks birdwatching.  Besides the ziplining, the canopy walks, the hummingbird and butterfly gardens, there are several snake, reptile and frog aquariums and I heard young boys just begging to go back again and again.   One of the definite highlights of our trip was a guided night hike.  Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable, and that is indeed a point I’d love to make about lovely Costa Rica. For every guide we used or tour we took we were accompanied by the most kind, professional and knowledgable experts imaginable.  The night tour was an excellent example.  Costa Rica has invested heavily in eco-tourism, and its citizens are truly proud of the amazing diversity their country has to offer.  There was a moment at the beginning of the night hike where I was fairly certain we had been overly ambitious bringing Max with  us.  I imagined his cries and screams of protest scaring away any hope of wildlife that we and those on the tour with us might see, but after a tense minute or two, he fell fast asleep, and Rob and I scrambled through the forest looking and listening to the animals of the night.

If the beautiful cloud forest isn’t quite enough for you, Monteverde has another gem.  Coffee….and boy is it delicious.  On that point, a favourite quote of the trip came from our night hike guide. “I’ve been to Canada,” he said.  ”It is a beautiful country, but there is something I don’t understand – Tim Hortons. Canadians love it, but really, the coffee is not nearly is good is what we have here”.  He could not be more right, and I could not offer any kind of explanation.  Monteverde coffee is delicious. On our second (and last) day in Monteverde we decided to do a tour of a coffee plantation.  I don’t normally  like doing tours, but a coffee tour was something we had missed in Guatemala, and that both Rob and I were curious about.  I prepped myself to be one of a dozen camera toting tourists trampling about.  I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be just us. We went with Monteverde Coffee Tours – run out of the St. Elena Coop: http://www.monteverde-coffee.com/

A driver named Maximo picked us up.  We drove a little ways, and stopped to pick up a yoga-esque Tico (trust me, if you saw him you would know exactly what I meant.  He had long thick hair in a ponytail, a big welcoming smile, and a muscular but thin build).  A few minutes later we pulled into a picturesque farm and were greeted by the owner, a kind man who was proud to show us around his farm, and teach us the art of growing, picking and roasting coffee .

The owner happily walked us around his farm for an hour or two, pointing out interesting trees and animals and chatting enthusiastically about his family and the farm’s history – oh and coffee, lots and lots about coffee.  Our visit complete, he invited us into his home for a taste of the wonderful brew. We downed several cups, munching appreciatively on the freshly baked sweet bread which his wife had baked.  Max happily chased the gato around the spotless house to the delight of all of us (except the cat) and we had a long chat about coffee, Costa Rica, and the changes that Monteverde had seen over the past several years.

Buzzing on too much coffee we said our thanks and good-byes – and headed to our next destination – Volcan Arenal.  But, that, my friends, will be the subject of another post.

Hasta luego,

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