After our long and adventurous journey from Puerto Viejo back to San Jose we returned to our favorite digs, Hostel Pangea for one night. We had not made reservations as usual but luckily we met a couple (from Manitoba) on the bus who had one but weren’t going to use it since they were going to stay near the airport instead. I say this was lucky in as much as it turns out it is spring break in the US and Costa Rica is currently very crowded at the budget-end of accommodations. No reservation = no room in a budget location.
Budget locations are usually hostels with a mix of dorms and private rooms, some with and some without private bath. Most of these places have a really fun vibe with a wide range of interesting people from all over the world so you hear an amazing mix of languages although English is definitely the lingua franca. We have been lucky to come across several really great hostels and have enjoyed them immensely, in fact the enjoyment of a location itself in some degree hinges on the hostel and the people therein.
By the time we got to Pangea we were sweaty, sticky, stinky and hungry (it had been 10ish hours since we last ate). We ate immediately after dumping our stuff in our new room (yet another charmless box), I even caved and had a cheeseburger, my first in four months.
After a casual morning we wandered to the bank (had to try several until I found one with any money in its ATM). Then over to the bus terminal for Monteverde where we found lots of buses and people but no ticket agent for buses to Monteverde!!! We were told to return just before the bus left at 2:30pm and there would most likely be someone there selling tickets. This seemed pretty loosey-goosey but if we wanted to go that was the plan. Since we had four hours to kill we went back to Pangea and looked into a shuttle buses ($35 per person no seats left for Sunday).
While pondering the imponderables and posing further questions to the Pangea guys about how to get to Monteverde, Adrian (a fellow guest) offered up that he was about to rent a car and he would be happy to go with us. We accepted and next thing you know we are in the lap of chauffeured luxury in a 4x4 jeep. We left at noon and arrived at 3pm even with coffee breaks and countless miradors along the way. The road to Monteverde by the way is 30k of bumpy dirt. The hills above Monteverde were fully cloaked in cloud and there was a howling gale trying to strip us from the cliff road and spitting rain/cloud bits which of course made for some fantastic rainbows.
We checked in to Pension Santa Elena (http://www.pensionsantaelena.com/index.html), recommended to us by fellow traveler and friend from Belgium, Alessi. Really great place, amazing vibe, incredibly friendly and helpful staff, nice rooms, great coffee all day every day (grown and roasted by Ken at Common Cup). If you go to Santa Elena/Monteverde stay here.
The following day was busy. We went to Monteverde Rainforest in the early morning and hiked for four hours. We didn’t see much except for drippy trees and cloud-obscured views, pretty much what you would expect from a rain forest. The following day the clouds pulled back for a day and a half and we were told the views were stellar.
After a the hike and a brief taco lunch we joined a group from PSE and went to Extremo Ziplines for an afternoon of swooping through the trees and hiking. Load of fun particularly the long runs and even more so when the guides doubled us up for added zip. The highlights were really the Tarzan Swing, a 100ft or so pendulum swing hanging from a tree – you launch into space and after a brief plummet the rope catches and whoohooo. The other highight was the final 1k long run done superman-style which I highly recommend.
Adrian and Emma (another new friend) left shortly after and Darcie and I had a light dinner and turned in early. Despite going to bed early we still managed to sleep late and miss the first bus to Santa Elena, the other/sister rain forest in the Monteverde area. This turned out to be a pity since early, i.e. before the clouds rolled in, there were amazing views out to the Nicoya Peninsula and over the nearby Arenal Volcano, usually wreathed in clouds, which is currently vigorously erupting.
We paid for a guide this time and while she tried hard to show us things there really wasn’t much moving in the middle of the day. We did see a couple of the elusive Quetzals while on our own at the end of the day while scurrying back to catch the last shuttle. They move so fast that there was no chance to get a photo. Very nice forest with nicely developed trail system.
The next and final day was spent hiking up the now dripping wet and slippery road to the Bat Museum which Darcie really wanted to see. For me it was an expensive and very small exhibit and not worth it at all. For Darcie (and a handful of other ladies back at the hostel) it was fantastic. So guys - skip it, ladies – go for it. The building also has a restaurant at the top floor with great views. They make all sorts of chocolate goodies and we treated ourselves to a Death by Brownie which really was very good. They also made chocolates so we bought a 1/2lb or so which unfortunately we didn’t get around to eating much of and the whole bag became one giant lump on our hot and sticky bus ride to Manuel Antonio (9hrs by bus).
On our way down we had the amazing good fortune to be invited by Ken at Common Cup to stop into his brand new to him in-town roastery, coffee shop and chill-zone. He plied us with free shots of espresso (for me) and cappuccinos (for Darcie) and then turned on his micro-roaster for a very hands-on demonstration/lesson in the arts of roasting coffee. This was a whole lot of fun and I highly recommend this adventure. It was free, taught us a lot about roasting and in the end we bought a lot of coffee that in theory is in the process of being shipped home while we continue or wandering.
And that was that. Next stop Manuel Antonio.
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