ECUADOR- Traveling 14,000 feet in One Day!

We drove from Quito to Guayaquil and went from 14,000 feet to sea level on the way. We stopped in Cajas National Park and saw the Continental Divide at Three Crosses. We went through cloud forests as well.

Good bye Andes! You are amazing!

Cloud Forest- Night Tour

While visiting Costa Rica & staying at the lovely Peace Lodge (www.waterfallgardens.com) at La Paz Waterfalls, I went on a night tour equipped with flashlight & camera. Looking for nocturnal animals, I came upon glass frogs and leaf frogs.

Peace Lodge- In the Clouds

The moisture of the cloud forest makes everything grow so beautifully in the garden at the Peace Lodge (www.waterfallgardens.com) at La Paz Waterfall. Our stay here was delightful. I highly recommend your visiting this magical place. Close to the airport, volcanoes, rain and cloud forests, it is a wonderful place to begin your vacation in Costa Rica. We had one of the most beautiful rooms ever. The bathroom had its own waterfall and was as big as my dining room at home!! There is a jacuzzi in the bathroom as well as one on the balcony overlooking the cloud forest and mountains.

These photographs show the exotic flowers, including orchids, growing in the garden, as well as the "diamond raindrops" left on the leaves by the constant moisture in the air.

Costa Rica- Tropical Paradise

Arriving in Costa Rica a day late due to a blizzard & driving to the Peace Lodge in a cloud forest north of Arenal Volcano is a mystical and other worldly experience. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and, having never been in a cloud forest, I was not prepared for the lush vegetation and beauty awaiting me.

A cloud forest is a highland forest characterized by nearly 100% humidity throughout the year. As the winds sweep up to the Continental Divide, they cool and condense to form clouds, bathing the forest in a constant soft mist. The cloud forest here receives an incredible four meters of rain every year- that is almost twelve feet.

One of the most characteristic features of a cloud forest is the abundance of vegetation. Competition for growing space is so intense that trunks and branches are almost entirely covered with a variety of lichens, liverworts, and mosses. The lush cloud forest canopy is thus home to many species of insects, amphibians, and mammals which never even come down to the forest floor.

The Peace Lodge is an exceptional hotel built on the side of a mountain, near the La Paz Waterfalls. It is an organic part of the environment. There are 3.5 kilometers of paved trails that wind through cloud and rain forest,70 acres of wildlife and forest, showing the diversity of plant and wildlife.