On the Road to Monteverde

We have never been so happy to see a sign indicating we were on the right track to Monteverde. We had read the road to Monteverde's Cloud Forest was a rough, steep climb up the volcano, cloud, rain forest, but we began to have our doubts once we turned off the main highway and hit the rockiest, bumpiest, wettest road we've ever been on.

We couldn't believe the road wasn't muddy at all, but by the looks of the lush area surrounding Monteverde, it gets a lot of rain.

We passed by small village areas and seriously couldn't believe people actually lived up here with a road like this, but when the locals would pass us on 4-wheel ATVs and street legal dirt bikes, we understood how they managed. We still had our doubts we were on the right road, until kind locals instructed us we needed to turn off by the church and head up. What? Head Up? More?

As we white-knuckled our way up the windy steep road, we were treated to amazing vistas with steep drop offs and hawks gliding in the distance.

Suddenly we realized we were in the heart of the Cloud Forest. It was beautiful!

An even bigger treat was when we spotted our first howler monkeys, just hanging in the trees.

It was hours before we saw any establishments or people, but it was worth the drive. In fact, we'd say the drive was definitely part of the whole experience.

Rocky Road to Monteverde from Buddha Bellies on Vimeo.