Monteverde

Monteverde

We left San José early in the morning at 6:00. We took a regular city bus that took us all the way to Monteverde.

Fortunately, we didn't have to take long distance trips by bus in Costa Rica. The buses here have the worst facilities in all of South America. They may be relatively new, but they do not have air conditioning (which is desperately needed in this country) or enough space for taller people over 1.40m. The journey took 3 1/2 hours. After about 2 hours, the road became paved. We drove up a mountain, on a gravel road full of potholes.

Yes, that was the "road".

In Monteverde village, the roads were paved again. We arrived shortly before noon.

We weren't sure what to do next. We decided to do the free activities. There was a viewpoint at an altitude of 1900 meters. We started the hike. After ages, we reached halfway. We had to walk on the main road the whole time. In the middle, we had to switch to the gravel road, which was really difficult to walk on.

After 5 minutes, a Jeep passed us and took the wrong turn. I whistled to get his attention and told him the way was wrong. It was a German couple. They asked us if we wanted to ride with them. Muriel really hoped I would say yes, and I did, even though the road wasn't that great. Thankfully, we made it up with the 4x4. We went uphill very slowly (but faster than if we had walked). I told the young German guy a few times, "If you slide backwards, aim for that spot to park and turn around." But we made it. The view was incredible. We could see the sea on one side and the "Arenal" volcano on the other side.

However, I wondered if the walk would really be worth it. It was fine with the car. But we decided to do the hike anyway. We met a few people on the way who were coming back. "Is it far? Is it difficult?" No, they said, hehe.

The next day, in the early morning, we went back to the park. Of course, we missed the bus. It was 7:32. We were two minutes late, and the bus was gone. Unusual for South and Central America. But it was good to get used to the fact that buses have schedules. It hasn't been the case most of the time. One bus will go if one goes. So, we had to take an expensive shuttle. In this park, the highlight was the "Quetzal" bird. It was the sacred bird of the Mayas. We entered the park and saw the bird within 5 minutes.

Others spent the whole day looking for it and didn't see it.

Look at those incredibly long tail feathers.

I had never seen such a majestic bird before.

Then we continued. There were some cool trails through the "Cloud Forest".

We didn't see many other animals. We saw many other birds, insects, etc.

But I still wasn't satisfied. I wanted to see a coati and a toucan. Along the way, there was also a hanging bridge.

We also went to the viewpoint at the end of the park.

After 3-4 hours, we had enough and left. Without seeing a coati and a toucan. Just as we were leaving, a coati ran in front of us. We could almost touch it before it climbed up a tree.

Once, the stupid bus annoyed me. Of course, it only runs every 3 hours, so we had to take a taxi. We ate lunch there and looked at the photos from the day. On the way back, we stopped to see a tree. Yes, it doesn't sound exciting, but the tree was extraordinary.

You could climb up to the top of the tree, about 28 meters high.

I had never seen such a funny tree before.

It felt like being Tarzan. From there, it took us about 45 minutes to get back to the hostel. On the way, we heard a toucan. We followed the sound, but unfortunately, we didn't find it. Instead, we found a bus that didn't want to let us get on.

Back in the village, we suddenly saw some men in a side street taking photos. We went to look, and there was a toucan on the tree trunk, right by the nest, incubating the eggs.

It wasn't as colorful as the ones I wanted to see, but it was still okay. Well, that was our last adventure. We went to have dinner and then went to bed.

 The next morning, at 6:30, we headed back to San José. That was our last day in Costa Rica before we flew to Cuba. This is our last country. And it will be a challenge. Why? Because there is no proper bus network. Most of the time, we have to organize some form of transportation or take a taxi. It will be difficult to withdraw money. Simple things like water, shampoo, etc. are hard to find. Additionally, we will hardly have internet (WiFi). Most say that they only had bad internet twice for 2 weeks. So, I doubt that the blog will be updated until we get back home. I will write the blog posts about Cuba, but they will probably be uploaded later. We wish you a great time, and maybe there will be 2-3 more blog posts. Otherwise, see you after April 17th.

Next Stop: Havana, Cuba

See you soon,

Ernesto and Muriel