Costa Rica - Santa Elena

Let's go to Santa Elena near Monteverde. Actually not a long distance from Liberia. According to Google, it's about a 3-hour drive by car, but we didn't know at that time that there's only about 1 bus per day in Costa Rica. So instead of planning for 3 hours, you need to plan for 7 to 8 hours :D We spent 3 hours at a bus stop waiting for the next bus. And it's not like you can take a later bus, no, you would miss the only bus that's available. I wonder how people in this village get around if they don't have a car. Walk?

When we arrived in Santa Elena, I thought I was in the wrong movie. It was cold! In the evening, I wore long pants and a sweater for the first time in a long time. And the day before, I was wondering why I brought all this warm stuff :D

The next day, we went to the national park near Santa Elena. Finally, a chance to see some animals and explore the rainforest. We took a shuttle and then walked through the rainforest on our own. I have to say it was really great, but animals... Our animal of the day was a centipede. And there were several of them. It's like they were trying to say 'Don't give up, girls, there are animals here'. At first, it was motivating, but after 2 hours of walking, the motivation slowly disappeared. Unfortunately, no luck on that day. Back to the shuttle and what do we see, a small coati. Are you serious? I spend the whole day walking through this park and you couldn't find a more interesting place than this parking lot? Great :)

When we arrived at the hostel, we immediately went on a search for a ficus tree in the middle of the forest that can be climbed for free. It was nice to not have to pay for once, because Costa Rica is not the cheapest country on our trip :) It was amazing how the tree grew. So many small steps that are perfect for climbing. It wasn't really difficult, I imagined it to be worse. I definitely made it back down in one piece :)