May 2014 -  The 3 of us had a fabulous time in the highlands of Costa Rica, visiting 2 volcanos (Poas and Arenal) and the cloud forests near Santa Elena and Monteverde. We hiked on trails both close to our lodging as well as near volcanos and in rain forests. We even ventured into rappelling down canyons and zip lining through the cloud forest. The best part was simply walking on hanging bridges to enjoy views of the cloud forest. Cynthia's charm and splendid Spanish helped us learn from the Ticos.  In our photos, you will see lush green grass, forests loaded with epiphytes, waterfalls, butterflies, hummingbirds, and a variety of other birds. Our best sightings were a pair of male and female Quetzals when hiking with a guide in the Monteverde cloud forest, and a good look of howler monkeys munching on avocados while we were on a hanging bridge. 

The slideshow on this page gives only a small sampling. To see more photos, many with annotations, please click on the links below. Each will open a page in a new tab. 

 Poas - Poas volcano, waterfalls, butterflies, hummingbirds.

 Arenal Volcano - Arenal volcano, rain forest & hanging bridges, rappelling.

 Monteverde - zipline, cloud forests, and more hanging bridges.