A cool mountain getaway from the heat
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2010
1
338
366
Trip End
Jul 13, 2012
Where I stayed
Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Saturday, April 28, 2012
As the driver wasn't hanging around, we got there sooner than we thought we would at 9.45am and would you believe it there was a bus sat waiting. We quickly got across the road and loaded our bags (with much appreciated help from the driver) and then had to squeeze onto the bus as it was standing room only. A kind gentleman in the front seat got up to let Cat sit down while I had to breathe in to let people pass, but it was only for 20 minutes or so as the majority of the bus got off at the next village that was having a fiesta. Shame we'd made reservations. So I got to sit for the next hour or so until we reached Santa Elena. We then had to walk round the corner and half way up a hill to the hostel we'd booked and checked in. Once checked in, we had a rest and then later we bought some groceries for the next few days and cooked dinner. After dinner we had a hot shower and then settled in for the night.
Sun 29th Apr.
Had a lie in until 8.30am (as breakfast finishes at 9), had fruit, cereal and scrambled eggs for breakfast and then headed up the road to Cerro Amigos. To get there we had to walk half an hour through the village up and down hills until we reached the petrol station. Then we turned up a gravel lane which then turned into some steep muddy hill climbs. It was actually the service road for the TV towers at the top. On the way up, we saw some lovely bright blue butterflys, some strange looking bees and some massive flying ants. After two long hours we reached the top and had a nice view of the Monteverde cloud forest below. As expected, it was a bit cloudy on the ridges so we couldn´t see Volcan Arenal that you can normally see on a clear day, but it was nice. We then headed back down which took about an hour and a half zigg zagging as we went. On the way down we saw a trail bike coming up and the guy riding it did a pretty impessive wheelie, also at the bottom there was a group of quads getting ready to tackle the climb. Where were they 3hrs ago! Once we got back into town we bought some ice cream and then had a well earned rest. After cooking chili for dinner, we settled in for the night, watched an episode of Ice Road Truckers and then got an early night around 10pm.
Mon 30th Apr.
Got woken at midnight by some mumbled screaming, a loud crash, running water and a knock on our door. It turns out that the family of 3 Japanise deaf and dumb neighbours across the hall from us had broken the sink in the shared bathroom at the end of the hall doing their laundry and water was pouring into our rooms. We managed to pick everything up off the floor and with the owner we swept out the water while his wife mopped up behind us. We then went back to bed while Ronnie (the owner) took the Japanise family to the emergency clinic to get a cut leg stitched up. Our alarm went off at 6.15am and we got up for breakfast, then we walked down to the corner to catch the 7.30am bus to Monteverde Cloud Forest. We arrived at Monteverde at 8am, paid our entrance fee and started on one of the trails. A big group ahead had paid for a guide and he had spotted a hard to see bird called the Quetzel, so we went over to have a look and there it was way up in the tree. After a few photos we carried on along our trail through the forest looking at all the flora and fauna catching the odd glimpse of a bird or two and listening to their amazing noises. We carried on until we reached Mirador La Ventana where we saw an amazing view of the surrounding forest and the continental divide. On the way down to the view point Cat had a Bullet Ant land on her arm and gave her an excruciatingly painful bite which swelled up and stung like crazy. You could say she took a bullet for the team! After calming her nerves, we headed back to the entrance to use the facilites and check her arm was ok. We decided to have a break for a bit and had a look at the amazing Hummingbird Gallery with feeders and dozens of hummingbirds flying around. We couldn´t take our eyes off them, they are amazing to watch. As we´d missed the 11.30am bus back down and Cat was feeling better, we decided to walk to the waterfall to check out the view. It´s on the small side but was a lovely place to have lunch, We then headed back on one of the other trails and as we had an hour to wait for the bus, we went back to watch some more of the hummingbirds. An hour or so later we thought it best to go down to wait for the bus, but there was a bit of commotion going on in the restaurant. On the balcony there was a White Faced Capuchin Monkey having a field day with the chairs and tables. He was literally throwing them around to get attention. It was quite interesting to watch but he finally gave up and we caught the bus back down. Once we were back, we had some ice cream and then bought a few things for dinner. Around 5pm we decided to walk up to the sunset view point, but to be honest it was too cloudy so wasn´t that good. We then headed back and cooked French bread Pizzas for dinner and then packed and showered ready for leaving tomorrow. Then we settled in for the night watching Ice Road Truckers and getting off to bed.
Tues 1st May.
Got up at 7am after a much quieter night, had breakfast, checked out and then caught the Jeep Boat Jeep (Bus Boat Bus) transfer from the hostel to La Fortuna with Ronnie the owner. He has to work at the La Fortuna hostel for a few days and is tagging along.
