To the Monteverde Cloud Forest
After another delightful breakfast in the open air dining room of Carara Ocean View Hotel we bid our gracious hosts farewell and headed up – both directionally and in elevation.
As we wound our way toward the Monteverde Cloud Forest, we were taken by the pastoral homesteads along the way. They bespeak a simple, serene life. At least in the externals. But we know there is more to life than one’s surroundings, otherwise we would always be moving in search of the perfect place to settle. We remember that our real home is in heaven; we are just temporary citizens of this world.
The quaint mountain village of Santa Elena charmed us with its plethora of shops collected along narrow, winding roads replete with impatient bikers and carefree pedestrians. Monteverde followed soon after, much smaller in size. We followed detailed directions from our next host to ensure that we could locate our Airbnb (get $55 off your first trip with our referral link!) rental for the next couple of nights, then retraced our steps back to Santa Elena.
A helpful “Tico” in the information office gave us more details about the various reserves and all the adventure companies capitalizing on Monteverde’s appeal to tourists. Turns out it’s hard to enjoy much of the cloudy mountain without forking over big bucks. After chatting about our options while walking, we made a last minute decision to make a dash for one of the adventure parks. The last tour would begin at 3 and it was 2:30. The man at the info desk told us we had to be there 10 minutes early and it would take us 20 minutes to get there. He had obviously never ridden with Julian. We made it in just over 10 minutes. I kid you not. He has a little too much fun driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle on pothole-studded mountain roads. Before we knew it, we were outfitted with cables and carabiners and helmets – ready for the adventure!
Our adventure tour at 100% Aventura included 10 zip line cables, a Superman cable that stretched across the top of the canopy of an entire valley, and a Tarzan freefall/swing. The promo indicated an ATV excursion as well, but it was lame. Merely transportation from the end of one zip line to the next. Definitely not worthy of advertising! But the whole adventure was pretty awesome. The thrill of the zip line is one thing, but to couple that with a bird’s eye view of the verdant Costa Rican landscape as you fly through the air makes the experience even more worthwhile.
With night falling and adrenaline pumping, we bumped back across the dirt roads and officially checked in at our home. Well, sort of. The host didn’t respond to the honking he told us to use to signal our arrival and we were sent to voicemail when we tried to call. Thankfully, his neighbor heard the commotion and came over. Her lack of English and our lack of Spanish left us using hand signals, and she correctly ascertained that we were the next scheduled guests of her neighbor. She kindly showed us to the awaiting casita, which thankfully had the keys in the door, allowing us to check ourselves in and unpack before heading back to Santa Elena for a tasty dinner at Sabor Tico.
(By the way, we did eventually connect with our hosts and felt very welcome in our cozy home for the night!)
