Waterfall, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

Waterfall, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

A waterfall by a trail, in Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve. Nothing in the cloudforest really stays still for long enough to make a blurred-water shot, the result of dripping water, so the leaves near the top are blurred by motion almost as much as the waterfall.

At the Canopy Layer, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

At the Canopy Layer, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

The bridge at the canopy layer reveals philodendrons, ferns, orchids, and other plants, all competing for precious real estate on an avocado tree.

Hanging Bridge, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

Hanging Bridge, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

One of the distinctive features of Monteverde (now much imitated) is a bridge over a deep valley which allows visitors to walk by trees at the canopy level, seeing the plants that would normally be far above our heads.

Dragonfly on a Solanaceae, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

Dragonfly on a Solanaceae, Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica, 2012

A small black-and-red dragonfly hangs onto what I believe is some kind of Solanum sp.. Our guide gave a name, but I have forgotten it. I do recall him saying that the berries are used by natives as a stomach cure, but that one would have to be really sick to make the disease worse than the cure in this case.