SANTA ELENA AND MONTEVERDE CLOUDFOREST (06/03/09)
Our first destination in Costa Rica was the small town of Santa Elena and the nearby Monteverde cloud forest. On our early morning visit to the cloud forest it certainly lived up to it´s name with torrential rain too.
Despite the fact that the rain kept us from seeing any wildlife we still got to see the amazing diversity of plant life such as these pretty yellow relatives of the sunflower.
The view from a very high up canopy bridge.
Occasionally a shaft of sunlight would shine through the clouds but not often.
The forest visitors centre had a hummingbird garden in which artificial feeders attracted seven different species of wild hummingbirds.
After our rather disappointing morning of wildlife watching we decided to take advantage of Santa Elena´s various wildlife exhibitions. The first we went to was the World of Insects in which the very friendly guide opened many of the glass cages and let us (Adam) hold the insects such as this Praying Mantis.
All the species in the exhibit were native to Costa Rica such as this Whip Scorpion. 
Holding a completely harmless Whip Scorpion, wishing he had a spare matchbox.
After holding a harmless Whip Scorpion it was time to hold one of the dangerous variety. Don´t worry the sting is quite painful but not fatal.
The incredible Costa Rican Cross Spider. The cross shape on the web exactly imitates the way flowers reflect UV light, attracting insects to feed but then be eaten.
A Costa Rican variation of the Red Knee Tarantuala.
We then visited an exhibition of Costa Rican frogs.
A Mask frog.
A Red Eyed Tree frog.
A Glass Frog.
One of several species of butterfly at the frog exhibit.
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