Costa Rica part 2: Mountain Oasis

The four of us had two main goals for the "travel part" of our trip: 1) to do a canopy tour (better known as zip-lining) and 2) enjoy some relaxing beach time. So, Sunday morning we headed to Monteverde, known for its Cloud Forest. Stephanie had spent some time in Costa Rica before, and kept talking about Tico time (the custom of starting things a little bit late.) Well, that morning, the van to pick us up came EARLY! Like Stephanie was still in the shower and none of us had eaten, early. The driver was fairly patient and probably enjoyed watching all of us run around trying to check out and leave. We made a few more stops and finally headed out of town.

We had intended to take the public bus, but it left very early, and we heard it made a lot of stops. So, we decided to opt for tourist transport. The road from San Jose to the Puntarenas area was fine. However, the last hour and a half was a bumpy road, twisty and narrow road. I began to remember that I didn't like heights. (This was confirmed later!) Once we got to the top and entered Santa Elena/Monteverde, it was worth the trip! It's high up in the mountains and has gorgeous trees and views.

We didn't have reservations, but the guidebook suggested Hotel Arco Iris (rainbow). The woman at the desk said she had a small house for 4 with a kitchen, living room, and 2 bedrooms. We asked to see it, and agreed it would be worth the price. It was SWANKY! She told me we could put our bags in the room and then check in, in case it started to rain. She should have said "downpour!" As a native of Arizona, I am not accustomed to seeing that much rain... EVER! We were all hungry from our road trip so we braved the rain and headed into town. We ate at a cute restaurant called Morphos and watched the rain. Then we crossed the street to do some grocery shopping. Santa Elena is a pueblo so we enjoyed the contrast to the big city of San Jose.

Monday, we had reservations at Selvatura, to do the canopy tour and suspended bridge walk. After we put on our gear (climbing harness, helmet and gloves), listened to the brief orientation, and signed a waiver releasing them from ANY liability, I realized this might be scarier than I thought. I don't like heights! Wade and Stephanie loved it immediately, and went alone. The first two lines Erika and I did with a "taxi" (guide). The third was the longest and I decided I wanted to go alone.

That was cool because you actually had enough time to "see" things, and I figured Wade wouldn't let me crash into a tree. (Most tourists do this for the adrenaline rush, not their love of nature.) On the last line, Erika went by herself too.

While Erika and I tried were busy gathering courage, Wade and Stephanie went on the Tarzan swing..... The suspended bridge walk really let you check out the canopy at a much slower pace. We liked that too. We had lunch and then headed back to town before the afternoon deluge.







Erika on the zip line









Couple overlooks canopy



Tuesday was my favorite day in Costa Rica. We made arrangements to have a guide take us through the Cloud Forest in search of the mysterious quetzal bird. This is the national bird of Guatemala, but they are endangered and apparently hard to spy. As the name suggests, cloud forests are usually cloudy (and rainy), but we had a very clear day that was relatively cool. They are different from rain forests because they are high in the mountains and don't have mosquitoes! Also, the light from the sun reaches through the canopy to the forest floor. It was awesome! We learned about a lot of plants and we were lucky to spot a female and a male quetzal (in addition to a wide variety of other birds)!!!! We ended the tour at the hummingbird "park" where we saw several different species. During the tour we met two other teachers who teach at an IB school in Mexico City who were staying at the same hotel. One was British, the other Mexican. We had pizza with them at Tremonti and then coffee and chocolate fondue at the Treehouse (literally a restaurant/hotel built around a tree!)

The rainy afternoons in the mountains allowed us to relax and enjoy our casita. It had an amazing porch just meant to sit on and watch the storm, sipping a cup of tea. But, we had to leave at some point. So on Wednesday we continued our journey to the beach on the Pacific side.

I can't wait to go back to our casita!