Back to Reality

We are officially back from our time in Costa Rica. Did it go by too fast? Of course it did. We arrived home with a renewed sense of the world. How do you ask? Well, we realized there is a much better place to vacation than Mexico or Hawaii and that we really need to start exploring places south of the US border.

Yes, there will always be a dreaded layover, but if you have family to visit in any of the southern states it makes killing time in large international airports worth it. Plus we got the bonus of a mini-tour of Atlanta and a nice Thai food dinner.

Unfortunately the flights schedule was a bit off and we ended up overnighting it in the Atlanta airport for 9 hours. We tried to sleep away the time, which proved pretty difficult.

In the end it was totally worth it. We were able to see family and that's always a good excuse to fly indirectly home from a vacation.

Forest Patterns

Hiking in a rain forest isn't about the views, but the plant life.

Once we were able to take our eyes off the slippery hiking path and look up, we realized how beautiful the forest patterns were.

Nature can be so beautiful and inspiring.

That's Why They Call It a Rain Forest

Have you ever been hiking in the Pacific Northwest of the United States? Well, it's a lush, wet, green canopy full of moss and undergrowth. In other words, its beautiful. It really is, so we weren't too distracted by the Cloud/Rain Forest of Monteverde at first, until we realize things don't grow like this back home!

There certainly aren't palm trees as big as our dining room growing in the old growth forest just 30 minutes away from our house.

For a measly $14 we were able to hike through this pristine ecosystem that we had to ourselves due to the heavy rains of the wet season that seem to keep everyone away. We didn't care, it's a rain forest, you've got to expect some rain! Although due to the thick canopy, the rain was hardly noticeable - at first.

We decide to hike over to the observation bridge and out to the observation deck overlooking the Cloud Forest. A nice 2-hour hike that would give our lungs a nice dose of oxygen!

You could say the plant life is the star of the Cloud Forest, but we would argue the path the local government cut through to make the Cloud Forest accessible to its visitors was pretty impressive as well.

Unfortunately the open tiled path was a bit slippery and uneven that we spent a lot of time looking down, which provided us the opportunity to enjoy the lesser known inhabitants of the rain forest. This guys was actually pretty huge. Just crossing the walkway.

We had read about Monteverde's suspended walkways all along the rain forest and immediately thought of Vancouver, Canada's top tourist attraction, and extremely scary Capilano Suspension Bridge. Fortunately Monteverde's observation bridge is nothing like the the heart-stopping-swaying suspension Capilano Bridge, but a solid steel bridge high above the rain forest canopy.

The view was absolutely amazing. It was very Jurassic Park, as if any minute a huge ancient bird was going to burst through the thick clouds.

We continued along the beautifully green and lush hiking path to the observation deck.

When we reached it there wasn't much of view, other than the inside of a cloud.

Sure, we've seen plenty of the inside of a cloud, but for some reason it was really mesmerizing.

Plus the forest plant life was colorful and interesting.

As we started to make our way back to the main entrance, it began to rain and we were looking forward to having dinner at an interesting restaurant back in Santa Elena.

The Tree House Restaurant is a well known restaurant in the Monteverde area. Situated literally in the middle of a massive tree, the restaurant is hard to miss, on the main drag in Santa Elena, a small town you must pass through on the way to the Monteverde Forest.

The food was good, but the coffee and friendly staff is why you should stop. After a wet and exhilarating hike it was exactly the pitstop we needed before heading back on the crazy road down the volcano.

Costa Rican Hospitality

After what seemed longer than humanly possible to endured road to Monteverde we caught sight of the first establishment and we quickly pulled over. Maybe it was the lush inviting vegetation in the parking lot, we're not sure, but it was a sight for sore eyes.

We walked into the Belcruz B&B probably looking worn down from the drive up and needing some reassurance we were in the right place and that it was worth the effort. Which is exactly what we got. The owners came out from behind the counter quickly offering directions to the bathrooms, pastry case, and would we like an espresso? Yes, yes, and yes!
We were quickly charmed by the owners, who probably see people like us daily, but didn't make us feel that way at all. We quickly ordered up espressos and was provided a nice map, which was then detailed with highlighted areas where the road turned bad and roadside markers indicating we were headed in the right direction.
We found the Costa Rican people to be one of the nicest people around. Friendly, curious, funny and overall just happy. Much like the people of Hawaii, they were an utter delight and we were quickly charmed by their kindness and openness. So much so that we visited the Belcruz on the way back to the main highway, for another espresso and some more of their charming hospitality.

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.