Monteverde Cloud Forest

The Hotel Establo had over 900 rooms! 

Last Friday, I journeyed to Monteverde.  The drive there was uneventful until we began to climb the mountain.  The road was very narrow and close to the edge.  At one point, the road was narrowed to one way due to construction.  We had to wait about 30 minutes to pass.  At one point another bus had to pass us, and I thought they were either going to fall into the ditch or get stuck in a hole!  We arrived at the hotel, Establo, just as the sun was setting.  I got some beautiful pictures of the sun setting over the Gulf of Nicoya which was just visible from the balcony.  My hotel room was beautiful.  Both beds faced a wall of windows which overlooked the balcony and the gulf.  There were also two very comfortable rocking chairs on the balcony.

Zip-lining in Monteverde!

Saturday morning, we went zip-lining through the jungle.  It only cost $30 with my student ID and was a lot of fun!  Monteverde has some of the best zip lining companies in all of Costa Rica.  They are the longest, the safest, and the cheapest according to our tour agency at school.  My favorite part was the Tarzan Swing.  First, you walk out on a long hanging bridge to a platform.  Then you jump and fall about 20 feet before the rope catches you and you swing back and forth!  I let go of the rope after the initial fall and made the guys at the bottom laugh as I screamed “PURA VIDA”!  At the end, I asked if I could go again.  They said I could but went I got to the top there were 20 other people in line, so I just went back to the bottom and took pictures of others as they swung.

We were denied entrance to the Cheese Factory but I got my picture with the sign anyway!

That afternoon, my friends and I went on a hike through the jungle on the hotel’s property.  It turned into a much longer hike when we got lost looking for the lookout point to see the Volcano Arenal.  In the end, I made my own trail to the edge of the mountain ridge, and we could see the volcano even though most of it was shrouded in clouds.  Then we decided to hike to the Monteverde Cheese Factory.  The waiter at the hotel said it was less than a kilometer but it was definitely more than a mile.  The main road through Monteverde was a gravel road with a dirt sidewalk.  It felt very rural.  Most of the area is protected park land. We arrived at the factory at 5:15 just as the tasting area was closing.  So, we hiked back to a restaurant/chocolate factory which served ice cream from the factory.  Monteverde was settled by Quakers from the United States.  At first, the Quakers wanted to sell fresh milk in Costa Rica.  However, they were unable to transport the milk before it spoiled.  Instead, the Quakers decided to make cheese and ice cream.  Monteverde cheese and ice cream is the best in Costa Rica.  I had a chocolate shake.  It was the richest, creamiest shake I have ever had! 

 Walking through the cloud forest. I´m in the backgroud with the blue shirt and black backpack.

Sunday, we spent two hours in the cloud forest national park.  The park was very beautiful! It was raining/misting lightly the whole time.  As we climbed the trail higher into the forest, we began to see more clouds amongst the trees.  We climbed to the continental divide which runs along the ridge of a mountain.  Up there it was very windy!  We could only see about 40ft because of the clouds.  However, as we stared out, we could see the clouds move and could glimpse the rolling hills covered in a dense forest.  It was very magical and mysterious! Pura Vida!

Monteverde Cloud Forest