Monteverde Livin’

The decision to come here was spontaneous to a degree. It was a small degree because I had been in contact with my friend Erin who was living and completing an internship in Monteverde. I had been waiting in Turrialba for two weeks for a debit card to come in. It didn’t work out and I was starting to get the itch to move again. Then I got a message from my host to meet and organize what I would be doing in the coming week. I told her I was taking off because there really wasn’t anything to do there.

I caught the bus to San Jose that afternoon. Stayed the night with some friends. Then I left for Monteverde the next morning. This part of the trip was definitely a test in resilience again. I arrived at the bus terminal by taxi at 6:15am and the bus left at 6:30am. It was the wrong terminal, there was recently a transition to a new one. An older gentlemen told me this and then gave me and another traveller a ride to the correct spot for a rather exorbitant rate of 2,000 Colones each. I did make my bus though and arrived in Monteverde at about 11:00am.

At the bus station in Monteverde we all hopped off and milled about. I talked with my seat mate Nafou about his plans and then found some girls who were staying at the same hostel as me, Monteverde Backpacker’s Hostel. We met Alonso ,the owner of the hostel, and followed him to the spot. I walked with a group of European girls, three from Sweden and two from Germany, and ended up sharing a dormitory with them. Most of them went on a paid tour but two of them were more into not spending money, a program I shared. We asked Alonso what to do and he sent us to the Ficus Tree or en espanol; Arbol Hueco.

Over the week I stayed there I went to the ficus trees multiple times. The one time I went with Erin was really neat. We were hanging out, shimmying out on the branches, slothing, then something cool happened. A family of white-headed capuchins were hanging out in an adjacent tree, swinging around, being monkeys. Eventually they moved through the tree we were in and on to another. I was about one meter from one of them. Pretty neat.

Another day trip was with some French-Canadian ladies from Montreal. They stayed at the hostel I was at and we linked up schedules on one day to hike to some hot-springs. This turned into a great adventure with many stops to ask directions. The hot-springs are on a farm outside of Monteverde. We headed out on the road, stopped to take a bunch of pictures, naturally (I was with girls…), and eventually found the spot. We paid the entrance fee and hiked down the hill, through pastures, and eventually to the hot-springs. The family that owned the farm had developed the springs a bit and were absolutely stunning. The hike to them was pretty arduous but coming upon them finally was a fine reward.

One of my other trips was to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. This is the quintessential draw to the area for nature lovers. Because these mountains are the first range off of the coast, there are almost always clouds shrouding the peaks… thus a cloud forest and one of the most biodiverse places in the world.

And finally my last excursion of the stay was to the Extremo Canopy tour which cost $50 dollars and consisted of twenty-two zip-line segments, a tarzan swing, and for another $60 was a bungee jumping option (I opted out). During my time at the hostel this seemed to be the most popular draw for your average tourist. Because all of these people were doing it I caved in and splurged to do it. I have a fear of missing out. The way I’ve decided to describe the experience is that I felt safe the entire time. I usually strive to get out of my comfort zone and into some danger when I do things like this. So for adrenaline junkies, extreme sports enthusiasts, and non-sissies I recommend saving your money for a beer, a surf lesson, a surf board, a rafting trip, or something that is a little less safe and doesn’t feel so much like a mass produced tour option. I could just be a snob.

Most of my time there was spent working with the friend who was doing the internship in Monteverde, Erin. She was working at the Santa Elena Reserve and the Parque Eco-Paz. The latter is where I spent the majority of my time, working as a volunteer. Parque Eco-Paz is a project undertaken by a fellow named Sergio. Sergio is a Monteverdian who studied in Canada, achieved a doctorate degree in natural resources (or something similar) and came home. He is an older gentleman and is currently working on creating this park as a place for locals to come and decompress. His reasoning for this is because there aren’t any public parks in the town of Santa Elena (same as Monteverde) for people to use and enjoy. Sergio believes that public natural spaces are an integral part of a cohesive community so he decided to create one. I don’t know where funding is coming from but I worked with a team of volunteer students that included Erin, David, Spadey, Carina, and myself. The others had done a ton of work while I only did a bit in my week there. The projects ranged from building trails to building platforms in trees. It is a noble cause that I’m glad to have participated in if only for a small period.

In closing I stayed at the Monteverde Backpacker’s hostel. The management is pretty cool and the place was clean. I met a ton of other travelers and had a great time staying there. Keep an eye out for the Nicaragua posts.