Climbing the Ficus Tree / Strangler Fig in Monteverde

Ficus tree in Monteverde

It was my penultimate day in town and after taking things to greater heights at Monteverde Extremo Park, joining a night walk, and getting a visit from white-faced monkeys at Que Tuanis, I could’ve just stayed at the hostel and lazed around. But then, the front desk attendant, who ended up calling me Josh during my stay (and I just let her because who knows if I was a Josh in another life), told me to visit the Ficus tree in Monteverde.

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Repatriation to the Philippines during a Pandemic (COVID-19)

Repatriation to the Philippines

The story of my repatriation to the Philippines begins with the reopening of Juan Santamaria International Airport and the only way of getting back to the land of promise being through the US, particularly Houston where our high school valedictorian by the name of Joey was wrecking havoc. After my Spirit Airlines flight got rescheduled and cancelled at least twice and the airline postponed the resumption of their operations to Houston, I conceded to flying with United Airlines. From there I was to fly to Manila through Taipei via EVA Air.

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Hiking the Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala

Volcan de Fuego as seen from Acatenango Volcano

I know, Volcan de Fuego as seen from Acatenango Volcano oozes soo good that you might question your purpose in life. While the experience was not a series of unfortunate events as told by Lemony Snicket to children, I am saddened to say that this post will be an expectation vs. reality one, in that while the weather forecast was the most ideal on the day of our hike, the clouds seemed to have gotten too excited with our arrival at the camp that they wanted all the attention to themselves. You have been warned and if you still decide to carry on, my, I must’ve said something right in this paragraph. The photo is courtesy of Tropicana Hostel’s Instagram account.

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