Night Walk in the Forest! An option in Monteverde was a guided walk in the night, looking for creatures in the forest. Groups of 8 with a guide headed up pathways, flashlights in hand. Our guide was amazingly quick to find a horned katydid on the underside of a leaf, and to point out lizard swaying on a leaf as the wind blew. My photo is edited to look a bit like a negative on a slide. A burrow was uncovered and with some encouragement, a tarantula appeared, its furry body and legs beautiful and menacing all at once. We saw a tiny green viper, coiled, ready to strike if a meal of a mouse happened by. Snakes will wait for hours, even returning to the same spot to wait for days on end to be able to catch something to eat. A gigantic walking stick swayed under a branch, and birds slept while perched on braches, heads tucked in. A larger green viper was a remarkable sight, lit only with flashlights. Camera flashes are too bright for lidless eyes. We'd admit to holding our breath a bit, being so close to such a poisonous viper! In the middle of a meadow, flashlights off, we stood in awe under the milky way. Later, a sleeping sloth hung like a sack of laundry blowing in a heavy wind, and a kinkajou ran across branches like a squirrel. The clear, dry night made it all a wonderful time on the forest of Monteverde.