Monteverde literally translates to “the green mountain.” That is the place where we are now, in the village of Santa Elena at Casa Balbi. A super enthusiastic host, Oscar, lives and works on his family’s land there. They had a dairy farm here a few generations ago. Judging by the converted barns, it wasn’t as large as we know them in the Netherlands. Now, there are about five accommodations for rent on the grounds, along with a beautiful garden.
Yesterday afternoon, Oscar—an American father, a Panamanian mother, and English-speaking—invited us to join him at a viewpoint to watch the sunset. On the way, we picked up Tom, an American retiree, and drove for half an hour along a fairly new road—not asphalted but made of rubble—to the viewpoint.
It was wonderful to have a view from so high up. Casa Balbi is situated at an altitude of 1,400 meters, and now we were sitting just a little bit lower. From the viewpoint, we could see the Nicoya Peninsula, where we stayed last week. As darkness fell, the promenade of the coastal village of Puntarenas, where we caught the bus, was beautiful to see with all the little lights.
There are several layers of clouds. At the altitude where we are, the height of the first layer of clouds is also equal. What you see in the photo above is that the sun is still strong enough here to push the cloud back. The further the sun sinks, the less intense its heat becomes, and then both clouds connect. Which you can already see happening a little in the photo below.
Oscar is full of stories and deeply committed to nature and the country. You can also already notice climate changes here, with the clouds being higher than a few years ago due to global warming, and us experiencing more sun in Casa Balbi now than before. Tom, a musician through and through, also had wonderful stories. It was great fun to meet new people again.
A peculiar thing I didn’t capture is a type of drizzle, which they call ‘cat’s tail rain’ here. (I’ll ask for the Spanish name and add it later.) Yesterday morning the sun was shining in the garden while simultaneously there was a drizzle. You encounter that here on the mountain for a few hours. Because you are in the clouds. I was wearing a tank top and showing Jannie & Jos around the beautiful garden. During which I had already gotten sunburned on my neck and the tops of my shoulders. Because the temperature is nice, there is a bit of drizzle, and some sunshine, it doesn’t feel like the sun is burning hard. But my pale skin isn’t used to anything, of course, so from now on I have to slather on sunscreen, even if I’m only outside for a short while.
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