Monteverde: A Weekend With Our Heads in the Clouds
Monteverde: A Weekend With Our Heads in the Clouds
Monteverde, or Green Mountain, is a green paradise tucked away in the mountains of Northeast Costa Rica. Monteverde and the town of Santa Elena are located in a cloud forest and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Costa Rica. This destination has been at the top of my Costa Rica travel list, and I’m so glad that I made it there before the end of my first semester in Costa Rica. Read on to hear about my adventures through the clouds and greenery of Monteverde.
Transportation
To get to and from Monteverde from San Jose, there is really only one public transportation option – a Transmonteverde bus. The bus only runs twice a day – at 6:30 am and 2:30 pm, and the tickets can be bought online here or directly from the ticket booth at the 7-10 terminal in San Jose.
We wanted to have time for activities on Friday, so we got up early and took the 6:30 am bus. Alona and I lucked out on the bus thanks to a very kind woman. She noticed that my long legs were crammed into the small space in front of the seat in front of me, and directed me to open seats farther back on the bus where I could stretch my legs fully out. She was a God-send. The bus ride over all was nice, and the last two hours of the trip were spent on unpaved mountain roads with beautiful views all the way out to the sea.
I wish I could say that our bus back to San Jose on Sunday was just as pleasant, but it was really just a madhouse. Because there are only two buses back to San Jose each day, and I assume the 6:30 am bus is not popular, everyone and their mother were on this bus. We had tickets, so we were guaranteed a seat, but there were so many bodies crammed onto this bus that people were in the aisle two by two. They loomed over me and managed to injure me several times by accident. One man grabbed onto my hair to keep his balance and another fell elbow first into my face. On this trip, I was stuck in my original seat with my knees crammed in front of me. There was no room to stretch them into the aisles, so I had to periodically unfold them across Alona and almost out the window. I survived, however, and I’m mostly grateful I did not have to stand the entire five hour bus ride like the other pour souls.
As for transportation within Santa Elena, the town is small and easily traversed by foot. To get to one of the reserves, we reserved a $2 shuttle that can pick travelers up at their respective hotels or hostels. To get to the zip-line park, we utilized the free transportation offered by the company. There are also taxis in the city if you aren’t inclined to walk.
Accommodations
The day before I left for my trip was Thanksgiving, and I FaceTimed with all of the friends and family celebrating the holiday at home in North Carolina. I told them I would be staying in a hostel that has good reviews, free breakfast, and only costs four dollars a night. This was met with mixed reactions – disdain from my mother who prefers nice hotels, and excitement from my more adventurous aunt.
Well, I’m happy to report that the Mi Casa Tica Hostel is fantastic and not the hovel you would expect for only $8 for an entire weekend.
My group booked 4 beds in a 10 bed mixed dorm but got placed in a 3 bed private room, so that was a nice surprise. The room was small, but cozy and vibrant with murals covering the walls and ceilings.
This little guy greeted me from right beside my bed, and Ross bemoaned that the hostel didn’t have a cat or other animal. But, Mi Casa Tica ended up satisfying all of his requirements when we came across this little guy that reins over one of the chairs in the common room. Don’t try to take his chair – Ross learned the hard way when the cat chomped down on his hand.
And as free breakfasts go, the breakfast at this hostel was surprisingly good. It consisted of eggs, toast and jam, fresh cut pineapple and papaya, and tea or coffee. Overall, the hostel was perfect for cheap college students looking to get away for the weekend.
Food
The town of Santa Elena has a plethora of food options, but the town is very touristy, so the food can be expensive. Fortunately, the breakfasts were covered by the hostel, so we only had to plan for lunches and dinners.
For lunches, we went to the grocery store just around the corner from the hostel and picked up supplies for a picnic lunch one day and a quick lunch the next. This worked out well and satisfied my cheapskate soul.
For dinner on our first night, we ate at Taco Taco, recommended by this post on the blog The Not So Budget Backpacker. Come to think of it, pretty much everything we did and ate this weekend came recommended from this blog post, so check it out if you’re going to Monteverde! Taco Taco was only about a minute walk from the hostel, and had a menu of delicious Tex Mex tacos. It is incredible that I had some of the best tacos of my life in Costa Rica considering these were the first tacos I’ve seen besides Taco Bell’s since arriving in the country. I had the Yucatan chicken tacos and a frozen cherry limeade that was to die for.
The next night, we went to Paz y Flor, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant also recommended by The Not So Budget Backpacker. This restaurant was a bit more expensive than Taco Taco, but the veggie-rich fare hit the spot. Also, the atmosphere is nice with pan flute music, dancing fairy lights, and a massive dog named Mambo. To eat, I had a traditional Costa Rican casado (rice, beans, plantains, salad) with a vegan twist of a soy meat patty. Then my whole group ended the meal with brownies. Yes, yes, I’m allergic to brownies, but they were sitting out and tempting me, and we can’t always be strong-willed.
I mean come on.
Activities
Climbing the Weird Ficus Tree
All of these activities came recommended by the same post from The Not So Budget Backpacker. The entire weekend was basically planned courtesy of her.
The first day, we arrived in Santa Elena around 11:30, and after grabbing lunch and checking into the hostel, we wandered around the town. The town cropped up in the 1950’s after many ex-pats fled to Costa Rica in protest of the Korean War. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the town is kind of hippy dippy as a result of its founders. The town is cute, but small, so we were soon ready for something to do.
Santa Elena has some places where you can pay to climb up through hollow ficus trees, but this wouldn’t do for cheap college students, so we set off in search of the free ficus tree. Following the directions from the blog post, we ventured up into the woods surrounding the city. Along the way, we picked up a harem of dogs that we promptly named.
Jenkins the white and black fluffy dog, Baxter the chihuahua mix, Dill the humpy German Shepherd, and Earnest the three-legged mutt. They were all adorable, and they followed us all the way to the ficus tree.
We managed to find the tree by following the dogs and other tourists in the area. The tree forms its web-like shape by growing around another tree and basically strangling it to death until the ficus is all that is left. The odd tree is perfect for climbing and looks like the rabbit hole from Alice and Wonderland on the inside.
Ross and Melissa made it all the way to the top of the tree, but Alona and I don’t trust ourselves and our distinct lack of coordination. I’d recommend checking out this anomaly of nature if you find yourself in Monteverde. It’s weird and free, a great combination!
Visiting the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve
There are three major reserves surrounding Monteverde: the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, and the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. We chose the Santa Elena reserve over the other two because it was recommended in the blog post and the owner of our hostel told us that it was less crowded and touristy.
So we got up early Saturday morning and took a shuttle to the reserve. There, we paid the $7 student entrance fee and set off on a hike. To start, we picked the Encantado hike of a distance of 3.4 kilometers. I am not a hiker by any means (read about my hiking disaster here), but I managed this hike with only two puffs of my trusty inhaler. That’s a win in my book. Not to mention that the greenery of the cloud forest was breathtaking (lol pun unintended).
Gorgeous Greenery
The moss left the trees and structures looking as if they grew green fur, and the bubbling streams left me thanking God for the beauty of the earth.
I was also thankful for such a great group of people that didn’t mind slowing down for me when my lungs revolted or Alona and I got stuck in mud.
Above is Alona washing off her white vans that she wore into the muddy cloud forest in a natural stream. Lol, shout out to Alona for setting a slow pace for me, continuing on after she fell in the mud, and persistently cleaning her shoes.
After the Encantado hike, we took another trail that had a look out tower to the Arenal Volcano. On a rare clear day, you can see the volcano, but on our hike, we merely got a view of the vast expanses of clouds. Not a volcano, but still beautiful. Here’s a picture of the group on top of a tower that only has a weight capacity for two people. Oh well, we’re bad at reading.
Then, on our way to have a picnic in the dry reserve cafeteria, a German tour group pointed out this little guy to us.
This little cutie is called a coati. Coatis are most commonly found in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, but we were lucky to come across one in Monteverde. He clambered out of the forest and plopped down in this ditch. Me, too, bud. Me, too.
Zipping Through the Clouds on a Canopy Tour
This canopy tour may have been the best $45 I have ever spent. The student price of $45 got us two hours of zip-lining down 13 cables through the canopy of the cloud forest and a Tarzan swing. I’ve zip-lined quite a lot, but this tour is unparalleled. The cables are unbelievably long – the last one spans an entire kilometer – and the Tarzan swing made me whoop with joy as I had a Jane moment in the middle of the forest. The views were spectacular, and the guides were friendly and funny, if not a little funny. They were especially helpful when I got stuck on two different lines and had to be pulled a good ways in. If you’re familiar with my zip-line history, you’ll know that I have a habit of getting stuck on them. Oh well, it adds to the experience.
A canopy tour is something each and every visitor to Monteverde should take part in. It is worth every penny, even to a cheap college kid. The tour also helped me to mark “Zip-line in Costa Rica” off of my college bucket list.
Monteverde has been at the top of my Costa Rica travel list all semester, and it did not disappoint. The mountains of Monteverde are one of the most stunning and peaceful places that I have come across, and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Costa Rica.
Fabulous Adventure, what a mucho grande place, simply marvelous