DECEMBER, 2004 & JANUARY, 2005
January 5 - 8, 2005
The cloud forests of Monteverde and Santa Elena are a very unique experience if you are from the States, since we don't have any. You really get a great perspective on the bus ride (which is a must, though a bit queasy at times) from sea level in Jaco to the forest. As we climbed the mountain the terrain got wetter, greener and there seemed to be rainbows at every turn.
Once in Monteverde, we were pleasantly surprised at how it was still a small crunchy town with unpaved streets, though the dust could be a bit much during rush hour, which unfortunately has become a reality in a town with too many tourists and not enough roads. We were also surprised, though maybe we shouldn't have been, that the town is always covered in a thin mist, because it is literally in the clouds.
All of the action in town is centered on one main street, but it has everything you might need, from a good grocery store, to internet cafes, and several tasty restarants. We even found a post office to send some excess baggage home, and it arrived safely. We're still not sure what has become of the stuff we sent from Nicaragua, though we have high hopes.
If you make this trip, we highly recommend Pension Santa Elena, which was cheap, clean, had a great communal kitchen, and a bilingual staff which was very helpful in organizing excursions. While there we organized a canopy tour through Sky Trek which was long, fast, high, and even took you from above the cloud forest, down into the clouds which produces a pretty cool feeling when you are moving at 40 miles an hour, 500 feet in the air into a completely opaque cloud. We also, took a hike through a series of hanging suspension bridges similar to the one at Volcan Arenal. The one in Monteverde is shorter on wildlife at that altitude, but the bridges seem higher and longer. Definitely a good wind down after the canopy tour.
The nights were quiet, but we got a great chance to do a night hike through El Bosque Eterno de los Ninos, which is the childrens rainforest which was established in 1988 after a group of Sweedish schoolchildren launched a campaign to save forests. Donations of schoolchildren have since purchased the 22,000 hectares of reserve and those funds also help to maintain the reserve. Not only was the cause inspiring, but we saw a sloth and her child from 15 feet, huge tarantulas in their holes, and various sleeping birds, who amazingly can sleep through very high winds while simply clutching to a small branch with one foot (two feet would waste body heat). This area is truly one of the most beautiful we have ever seen, and will definitely be returned to several more times.
