Monte Verde / Santa Elena
One of the nicer journeys of the trip a minivan taxi took us to the shore of lake Arenal and we hopped on a boat. The lake crossing gave us some good views of the volcano and the surrounding landscape.
At the other side we hopped off into another taxi waiting to take us to the hotel.
With all the money Costa Rica makes from tourism I was surprised to see how bad the roads are away from the main routes to and from San Jose. They are just really dirt tracks covered in pot holes. Even the road through Monte Verde / Santa Elena was only paved in the very centre of town. the track was being dug up near our hotel and the water had been cut off.
When we arrived we knew Monteverde was the place for activities so we rushed out to get booked up.
That afternoon we did the Don Juan, Monteverde Coffee tour - it was pretty good as there were only three of us. I was pleased I did it as I realised how little I know about one of my favourite drinks. The tour took you around the plantation - I was amazed to see how small the machine was that converts all the beans for the whole plantation from the tree into beans for roasting.
The tour included a free sample of dark and light roast and a free hat. Fascinating - take a look - Coffee Tour
After the tour we raced off to do a night time nature walk. This was pretty good as we all got torches and the guides take you around the forest. All the guides are directing different groups in different areas but they use radio to tell each other what to look out for. We spotted quite a few animals and bugs including a porcupine sleeping up in a hollow tree (never knew they could climb), an Agouti and some racoons although my favourite were two tarantulas. The first one was in a log and never moved, but the second was by some rocks and was crawling around - I must admit it did make my skin crawl.
We headed back to town for Pizza and a beer.
That night the winds were strong and we woke up to wind and rain - the perfect weather for walking along suspension bridges and swinging along zip lines high up above the jungle! We considered backing out but knew there wouldn't be a chance to do it again.
The first part of the day we spent walking on a 2.5km trail over 6 suspension bridges and platforms built in and over the cloud forest. The views were good and the bridges were a bit scary as they moved quite a lot but I think that it would have been better to do it in nicer weather if we had time to wait and also I think we might have seen more with a guide assuming all the animals weren't sheltering from the rain!
Fortunately by the start of the next part of the day the rain had stopped although it was still windy. The next bit was the zip lining or Skytrek as they had branded it. Basically the course involved crossing a system of trails and zip lines over and in the cloud forest. There are 11 cables in total with the highest at 135m above ground and the longest spanning 750m. There was also suspension bridges and observation towers which you needed to climb. I absolutely loved the zip lining - great fun and sensational views of the forest for miles around - some of them were extremely fast and you had to rely on the guide to adjust the cable at the other end so that you slowed down enough. As it was so windy you had to go on some of the cables in pairs as we might have got stuck half way - now that would have been scary! I must admit I was a bit nervous climbing the observation tower as the whole tower was swaying in the wind.
Some people were absolutely terrified and Wayne was worried about why the cable looked so new between two of the platforms - my response that "It had just been changed and we were testing it!" didn't go down to well. You had to do 4 cables before you could back out however by the time the fourth one came around everyone decided to finish the course which was good.
After the cables in the afternoon we went up to the Monteverde National Park. We decided to do a guided walk as we figured we'd see more. Unfortunately our guide was a bit too interested in bird spotting (twitching) than in the animals. I suppose it was good to see some Quetzal birds (rare and endangered) and Woodpeckers as well as some rare Orchids - we did see monkeys again (Howler, Spider and White faced) but by now these were a familiar sight.
After the walk they showed us a slide show of some of the animals we could have seen which was a bit strange. They did have lots of humming bird feeders outside though and there were a lot of birds around them.
Later that afternoon we went to a Serpentarium. This was pretty good as we had a good guide who told us all about all the snakes, lizards, spiders and turtles. I also got to hold a baby Boa Constrictor. It was interesting to see the tarantulas there too as I had not realised that the males are much smaller and no where near as brightly coloured as the females.
To end what had been a really good day, that night we went out for a group meal as it was the last night for one of the group (Sue).
At the other side we hopped off into another taxi waiting to take us to the hotel.
With all the money Costa Rica makes from tourism I was surprised to see how bad the roads are away from the main routes to and from San Jose. They are just really dirt tracks covered in pot holes. Even the road through Monte Verde / Santa Elena was only paved in the very centre of town. the track was being dug up near our hotel and the water had been cut off.
When we arrived we knew Monteverde was the place for activities so we rushed out to get booked up.
That afternoon we did the Don Juan, Monteverde Coffee tour - it was pretty good as there were only three of us. I was pleased I did it as I realised how little I know about one of my favourite drinks. The tour took you around the plantation - I was amazed to see how small the machine was that converts all the beans for the whole plantation from the tree into beans for roasting.
The tour included a free sample of dark and light roast and a free hat. Fascinating - take a look - Coffee Tour
After the tour we raced off to do a night time nature walk. This was pretty good as we all got torches and the guides take you around the forest. All the guides are directing different groups in different areas but they use radio to tell each other what to look out for. We spotted quite a few animals and bugs including a porcupine sleeping up in a hollow tree (never knew they could climb), an Agouti and some racoons although my favourite were two tarantulas. The first one was in a log and never moved, but the second was by some rocks and was crawling around - I must admit it did make my skin crawl.
We headed back to town for Pizza and a beer.
That night the winds were strong and we woke up to wind and rain - the perfect weather for walking along suspension bridges and swinging along zip lines high up above the jungle! We considered backing out but knew there wouldn't be a chance to do it again.
The first part of the day we spent walking on a 2.5km trail over 6 suspension bridges and platforms built in and over the cloud forest. The views were good and the bridges were a bit scary as they moved quite a lot but I think that it would have been better to do it in nicer weather if we had time to wait and also I think we might have seen more with a guide assuming all the animals weren't sheltering from the rain!
Fortunately by the start of the next part of the day the rain had stopped although it was still windy. The next bit was the zip lining or Skytrek as they had branded it. Basically the course involved crossing a system of trails and zip lines over and in the cloud forest. There are 11 cables in total with the highest at 135m above ground and the longest spanning 750m. There was also suspension bridges and observation towers which you needed to climb. I absolutely loved the zip lining - great fun and sensational views of the forest for miles around - some of them were extremely fast and you had to rely on the guide to adjust the cable at the other end so that you slowed down enough. As it was so windy you had to go on some of the cables in pairs as we might have got stuck half way - now that would have been scary! I must admit I was a bit nervous climbing the observation tower as the whole tower was swaying in the wind.
Some people were absolutely terrified and Wayne was worried about why the cable looked so new between two of the platforms - my response that "It had just been changed and we were testing it!" didn't go down to well. You had to do 4 cables before you could back out however by the time the fourth one came around everyone decided to finish the course which was good.
After the cables in the afternoon we went up to the Monteverde National Park. We decided to do a guided walk as we figured we'd see more. Unfortunately our guide was a bit too interested in bird spotting (twitching) than in the animals. I suppose it was good to see some Quetzal birds (rare and endangered) and Woodpeckers as well as some rare Orchids - we did see monkeys again (Howler, Spider and White faced) but by now these were a familiar sight.
After the walk they showed us a slide show of some of the animals we could have seen which was a bit strange. They did have lots of humming bird feeders outside though and there were a lot of birds around them.
Later that afternoon we went to a Serpentarium. This was pretty good as we had a good guide who told us all about all the snakes, lizards, spiders and turtles. I also got to hold a baby Boa Constrictor. It was interesting to see the tarantulas there too as I had not realised that the males are much smaller and no where near as brightly coloured as the females.
To end what had been a really good day, that night we went out for a group meal as it was the last night for one of the group (Sue).
posted by Phil at 8:28 AM
2 Comments:
Coffee plantation was well worth a visit - the coffee is gorgeous - Jen x
F*****G Hell!
The man from delmonte, he say not a chance with that hat!
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