Waiting for the bus
The 31 km trip to Monteverde took two hours, as a result of unpaved roads and multiple twists and turns as we climbed to 1400 meters. The surrounding landscape quickly thickened into hills and valleys of lush foliage and we had a great view of Nicoya Bay to the east. We arrived to Santa Elena, the main Tico village amongst the cloud forest reserves, and were handed a pamphlet for a hostal in town. On the main strip, Pura Vida Backpackers Hostal offered a snug room with a private hot water bathroom and a free breakfast along with the use of their kitchen. Despite the man dropping the price from $25 to $20/night for that room, we chose to check out the competition before committing. The two other options were slightly more expensive, so we returned to PVB. Now a different guy at the desk, we explained to him that we'd like to take the room that the previous man told us we could have for $20. Without skipping a beat, he told us that room was taken but we could have another, although for $25. Micah and I have been playing poker and other card games more recently, and I'm getting the upper hand on reading people's poker faces; I was calling his bluff. We asked him to show us this more expensive option, which had an extra twin bed crammed in the room. I crinkled my nose a few times, looked displeased and waited for him to fold. He was speaking on a walkie-talkie and after a minute, said "oops, I messed up. The other couple booked THIS room; the one you want is still available. For $20." Not surprisingly, the light never came on in the room next door.
The streets of Santa Elena are lined with souvenir shops and restaurants of various cuisines, but manages to still have a more local feel than the previous towns we'd explored. We scoped out the souvenirs and the grocery store before settling on casados (the typical Costa Rican plate consisting of meat, rice, black beans, salad, stir fry squash, and a fried plantain) for our dinner. Settling into bed, we were happy for the extra blankets on our bed as we could hear the wind whipping through the hallway of our hostal.
Sunday morning we woke up in time to partake in our free breakfast, which was serve yourself style cold cereal, bananas, and toast and jam. We continued our exploration of Santa Elena town for the morning and even found a scale for a quick update on our weight loss. Despite mediocre reviews online, we planned to visit the Monteverde Cheese Factory for the afternoon. Believing it was too much of a walk, we waited for the 1:30pm bus and then watched it pass us on a side road at 1:31pm. We took the long way back to our hostal, got chased by a wiener dog, and ran into the German girls who sadly never found their wallet.
That evening we picked up pasta ingredients at the grocery store and had the kitchen to ourselves. As we were cleaning our dishes, a couple began cooking and we conversed. Emilie and Tim, from Switzerland and Boston, had been on the road for three months and hit a lot of the same stops as us. We exchanged stories and pictures at the dinner table for a few hours and enjoyed reliving some memories that already seem so long ago.
After learning that Emilie and Tim enjoyed their walk to Monteverde, Micah and I agreed to skip the bus on Monday morning. Our first stop was Cerro Amigos, a steep hike to 1842 meters for a decent view of Montevede cloud forest and on the other side, overlooking the vast jungle hills and Nicoya Bay. While making breakfast that morning, we took advantage of the self serve bread and jam and made PB&J sandwiches which made for the perfect picnic at the lookout. We descended the 3 km, spotting insects and plants foreign to our eyes. There were also swarms of bumble bees, which took a liking to Micah. He would duck and speed walk through the buzzing, occasionally yelling "I'm not a flower" in case they were confused. It worked, no stings.
Our reward was continuing our walk in to town towards the cheese factory. After indulging in ice cream cones, we walked back to Santa Elena for a total of 14 km that day. Dinner consisted of leftover pasta with additions from the communal fridge. We were tracking a package of cured meats and two slices of Monteverde cheese that appeared to be abandoned; after three days and no owners claims, we agreed they were up for grabs and would thicken the pasta nicely. That, along with a salad, and a mojito out of a can made for a nice supper.
Tuesday, yesterday, was devoted to a cloud forest expedition. In the Monteverde area, there are two main reserves: Reserva Biológica Bosque Nubroso Monteverde and Reserva Santa Elena. The former is larger and crowded with visitors; it is deemed one of the seven wonders of Costa Rica and was ranked the 14th place in the world to visit before it disappears. Originally settled in the 1930s by loggers and farmers, it was the Quakers in 1951 that established the reserve to protect the watershed. Due to the amount of tourists that the Monteverde reserve gets annually (10x as much as Santa Elena) and the marginally cheaper admission price, we chose to visit Santa Elena's reserve. A 30 minute bumpy van ride, $14 each and we were in a cloud forest.
There were numerous dewy trails through the veiled forest. We began our hike on the perimeter trail with rain coats on due to the light mist. Ten minutes into our walk we crossed paths with one other couple and guide and then felt that we had the forest to ourselves for the next hour. Intermittently, the silence was broken with high pitched bird chatter, which resulted in us frantically searching the trees and epiphytes. We were hoping to spot the quetzal bird, sloths and frogs but only occasionally saw wee little birds. However, we were not disappointed; the variety of flora, the quiet and the fresh air were wonderful. Halfway through our hike, the sporadic drizzle turned into a constant pour but it didn't stop us from climbing a lookout tower. To be above the forest and see and feel the clouds moving through you was magical, and we laughed and screamed as we held tightly onto the swaying frame of the tower.
On the main paved trail which turned to a small dirt path
Hanging on to the tower for dear life
We killed an hour in the cafeteria/ souvenir shop at the reserve and ate our second round of PB&J sandwiches made again that morning during breakfast. We caught the 1pm bus back to Santa Elena, bought bus tickets and a large loaf of coconut and cream bread, both for the next morning, and then changed out of our drenched clothes. After a few hours of relaxing, we found our dinner of tacos and burritos at a small stand we'd been eyeing the past few days.
This morning we set our alarms for 4:45 and were on the bus by 6am. Our 3 hour trip to Puntarenas was fortunately timely and we made it on the 9am departure from Puntarenas to Quepos. The highlight of the early morning was the aforementioned bread, which was twice the size of all the others on the same shelf and delicious. Also, the fact that we arrived at a destination 5+ hours away from our starting point by noon.
We found a hotel with a room 3x the size of our last for $30/night, but left our bags at the front desk since the room wasn't ready yet. There was a local soda down the road with casados that made for our cheapest sit down meal in Costa Rica yet at $10. This afternoon we got our bearings of the town, stocked up on lunch items to make wraps for tomorrow, and watched the controversial movie The Interview on TV.
Tomorrow we'll check out the highly recommended Manuel Antonio National Park, boasting sparkling blue beaches, tropical birds, and playful monkeys. We have one more stop planned in Costa Rica after this but are hoping to find a beach and a home that tempts us to stay for awhile.
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