Costa Rica 2008 - Day 5 - Monteverde to Montezuma

HANGING BRIDGES

The night before, Javier had told us to head into Santa Elena at 7am so that we could get some breakfast and then get to the Aventura offices at 7:30am for the tour at 8am. For some reason we just figured that he was telling us to get there early, so we got up at 7am, packed our bags to leave at 7:30am, and got to the offices at 8am. Turns out that was too late, and the van taking us from the offices to the actual tour location had already left. Luckily, it was only about 15 minutes on a dirt road to get to the forest, and the tour guide even waited for us in the forest near the entrance.

Andriy on the hanging bridges.

Ling on the hanging bridges.

Our guide was really knowledgeable. One of the reasons why Javier told us to go to Aventura was because the canopy tour actually included the guide, and since Olga said they saw no animals when they were in Monteverde and Santa Elena, we figured it was worth it. I definitely don't think we would have noticed any of the things that he pointed out if we were on our own. I used to think that animals just hung out of every inch of the rainforest (actually Monteverde is a cloud forest, which is basically a rainforest in the clouds), but I think that was just a myth perpetuated by my third grade science rainforest mural. The actual rainforest is pretty much like any other forest, except a bit more lush and obviously rainy. I'm still obsessed with it, though. I think it might have been cool to go on the hike in the afternoon, when everything would be cloudy and rainy and mysterious.

When we jumped in, the group was just getting onto the first bridge, and already they were pointing at some animals down below. We saw some agoutis and some red foxes prowling around. Actually, I think the red foxes were hunting the agoutis, but we didn't see any bloodshed, so there was no way to be sure.

Agouti (in the middle of the picture, kind of hard to see).

We got to see this beautiful butterfly cocoon hanging from a leaf, though I was too busy taking pictures to listen to what type of butterfly it came from. Actually, a secret pleasure of mine is to take macro shots with my camera and get a nice clear picture while all the other people get crappy blurred ones because they don't know how to change their settings.

Golden butterfly coccoon.

There was also a tarantula in a hole guarding a giant egg sac from which hundreds of baby tarantulas are eventually going to emerge, which is pretty disgusting if you think about it but also pretty cool. Not only did the guide point the tarantula out to us, but he also had this love for helping people take pictures. When we couldn't get a nice shot, he kept asking us to let him try with our cameras, and then he got this picture:

Tarantula with egg sac.

We also saw some owls, and some people in the group saw coatimundis, but other than that it was mostly bugs and arachnids. Our guide did take us on a "not for tourists" trail where he had been hiking a few days earlier and saw a sloth. He figured, since sloths are so slow, maybe they would still be there, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We did see these naranjilla fruits, which are kind of like fuzzy and slightly sour tomatoes (you can scrape the fuzz off). The leaf is fuzzy and soft as well, but you can't touch the veins of the leaves because they have some spikes that might prick you. Our guide picked one of the fruits and cut it open, and we all (unhygienically) rubbed our fingers against it to get some juice to taste. It tasted vaguely like lime.

Naranjillas.

Another thing that I thought was cool was when our guide talked about the bromeliads. Apparently bromeliads only use their roots to hold on to the tree, and unlike the strangler figs that we saw so many of, they don't harm the tree at all. Instead, they use their positioning to collect water and other organic matter like a little cup, and when the organic matter decomposes, they use up the nutrients. There are frogs and insects and all sorts of creatures that have life cycles centered around the bromeliad, so they go there to die, and their bodies are used as nutrients for the plant as well.

Our guide pointing out the bromeliad.

The highlight of the tour was actually not the hanging bridges for me, rather the giant strangler fig that was completely hollow inside and had been reinforced with a couple of ropes for easy climbing. In order for us to get from where we were to the next hanging bridge above, we had to get inside the fig and climb up like a monkey, which is exactly the kind of thing that I love to do.

Empty strangler fig.

Ling climbing up the tree.

Andriy climbing up the tree.

Ling and Andriy at the river.

Finally, at the end of the hike we came across a bunch of hummingbirds and then a whole colony of red ants walking in a line towards some unknown treasure. Before we discovered this, though, some of the other people in our tour walked right into them and got bitten a few times on the leg. We were lucky to avoid this by running really fast. Afterwards we sat in the lobby for a while drinking coffee before we followed the tour van to the location of the zipline.

Red ants.

ZIPLINE

Ok, ziplines are awesome. One of the English dudes was saying that it was funny, we all start of with the nice calm informational walk, and then we just say screw it and go "AHHHH" crazy on the ziplines. You would think that it would be scary to travel via a metal string a thousand feet above the rainforest (especially considering that, according to wikipedia, another name for zipline is "death slide"), but it's really not. It's kind of like skydiving, you sort of have no conceptual understanding of what is happening to you as it's happening. It just feels really peaceful hanging there and seeing the vast valley of trees all around you as you pass by.

Ling and Andriy entering the ziplines.

All of the people from our hanging bridges tour continued on to do the zipline, even the older English gentleman with heart problems (they had to go slower on some parts). This was cool because we had gotten to know the people in the first tour, so it made it feel more like we were doing the zipline with friends and not just the two of us. There was the English family and some other English people. We were looking at some of the video they took and helped them pass their camera from one side to the other with my jacket, since it had zipper pockets. Then there were two Asian-American boys and their mom, and the older one kept asking us if we wanted to hear him scream like a little girl. Apparently they had also gone on a zipline in Mexico, and he didn't go fast enough and got stuck hanging over the highway. He was really bad at ziplining though, since he kept twisting and turning as he went, so we could definitely see how he could have gotten stuck.

After they suited us up, they brought us over to give safety instructions. You're supposed to hold the ropes together with one hand so they don't get tangled, and keep your other hand (the stronger one) back behind you loosely looped around the cable for both balance (to stay in a straight line) and as a brake. Once you get close to the other platform, the guy will signal you to either keep going or start braking, and then you just press down on the cable with your looped hand to stop.

I was a little concerned at first that I was the stopping mechanism, and I asked the guy what would happen if we didn't stop in time. He said they would take care of it, but since it never really happened, I don't know how they could possibly take care of it, other than collision. I think a bigger problem that they have is people who brake too much and end up stuck in the middle of the wire, where they have to come out and get them (theoretically you could also turn yourself around and haul yourself back in). They always had two ropes, the main rope and the safety rope, and the guides always connected your safety rope as you moved from wire to wire, so it was really pretty safe all around.

I know ziplining is, like, not that difficult, but I must say that I was pretty good at it. It's kind of like driving, actually, so it's easy to get a good sense for how fast your going and how much you need to brake. Also, as they hooked you off one line and onto the other, they always asked you to help them out by pulling yourself up to release the tension in the rope. I have really weak arms, but I was pretty good at that too.

The longest, fastest zipline.

Part of the fun of the Aventura ziplines was that they included in the package a surprise rappel and the Tarzan swing. These two things were absolutely crazy. The rappel is fun because they take care of your start and stop, so you basically drop straight down on this rope without any idea of how far you're going (though you could tell them to go slowly if you really wanted to). The guy just says, "Don't ask any questions," and suddenly you're dropping. When I did it, it was like being on those tower drops at Six Flags, and I wasn't prepared for the stop, so my body was a little too loose and I got a tiny bit of whiplash. The old English guy went really slow, and the mom of the two kids went medium slow (though the kids kept saying, "go really fast for our mom!"). Since I couldn't see myself go, it wasn't until we saw this one girl go that I realized how fast it could be. She just dropped, and it was like she suddenly went from up top to the bottom, and I didn't see how it happened...

Andriy being lowered on the rappel.

I was expecting the Tarzan swing to be a small rope with which you swing from one platform to another, but this one was totally NOT that. It was a bit more like bungee jumping, since you climb up a really tall tower and just jump off and hope that the rope catches you. I actually didn't really think about the whole freefall thing until I got to the top of the tower and realized how tall it was. But I was already there, so I said what the heck and jumped.

I don't even really remember jumping off because the swing caught so quickly, but the initial moment was a little bit like jumping out of the airplane to skydive. You have this sudden gasp in your chest, and then the adrenaline takes over, and then it's over. When the rope catches it's just like being in a giant playground swing, and I tried to keep my legs together and point my toes. In retrospect, I should have hollered and pounded my chest like Tarzan. The little boy did not end up screaming like a little girl.

When they went to catch me, my shoelace was untied, and the one guy got my shoe, and it fell into the bushes below. They retrieved it pretty easily, and the guy put it on for me, jokingly holding his nose like it smelled really bad (it only smelled a little bad).

While we were walking up the tower, Andriy almost backed out. He never does stuff like this (never been on a roller coaster), and I was already proud of him for getting the guts to go on the cave tour and the ziplines, but the Tarzan swing was a bit too extreme. I thought he was going back down, but when I finished and looked up, Andriy was being strapped in and jumped. I was so proud of him I almost cried a little. He said afterwards that it was scary but turned out to be fun, and he got over his fear of not being in total control (he said ziplines were much easier because you controlled your own speed).

The Tarzan swing tower.

Andriy on the Tarzan swing.

Because only one person could go on the swing at a time, we waited around while everyone else took their turn. Everyone was cheering and laughing, so it was a fun time. There were two more lines after the swing, the last of which went over this beautiful expanse of valley, which was a fitting end to a really spectacular tour. We hiked back up to the entrance area, and since we didn't have to wait for the van, we just drove our car out back up to El Sol.

Here is also a video I took of us ziplining:


LEAVING EL SOL

When we got back to El Sol it was pouring rain. There were a bunch of old people at the main house in their bathing suits heading over to the sauna. The oldest old man stayed at the house on the rocking chair talking to Javier. When we showed up to check out, we spoke to him a little, and this somehow turned into a really long conversation between him and Andriy about NMR and other physics related stuff. Apparently he retired a long time again but still goes to some conferences in Cambridge.

While they talked, I checked my bank account and then got some directions out to Puntarenas from Javier. With all of his mad connections, he called some taxi driver in Puntarenas and came to the conclusion that the ferry did not have too many people in this season and we should take that rather than driving all the way around the peninsula (as the guy at Arenal had told us). Then, when we paid for the room, I was pleased to find that we didn't have to pay for the beer that Andriy had or the semi-use of the sauna. I don't know if they were actually free or if Javier was just being nice to us, but if it was the latter, that was really cool of him.

Right before leaving, I went out in the rain with an umbrella and my camera and took some last minute pictures of the pool and sauna. I said hi to the people in the sauna, who were all just hiding in there from the rain chatting away. It would have really been nice to just stay and hang out, I feel like I could have just packed up and moved there forever (or at least for a few more days).

Javier, Andriy, and the old scientist.

Rainy path with cat.

Pool and sauna.

ROAD TO MONTEZUMA

Monteverde to Montezuma

Javier's directions were pretty straightforward, so we didn't have any trouble making it to Puntarenas. The road after we got out of Guacimal was paved highway, and with the exception of a tree that fell down and a bit of heavy downpour, we sailed along and made the trip in about 2 hours.

Just outside of El Sol we stopped at a restaurant, coincidentally also called El Sol, for lunch. I had some delicious fried fish and fries, and Andriy had a chicken soup. There was a cute dog that hung around our table, and I eventually caved and gave him some fish and fries.

The trouble occurred once we got to Puntarenas. We showed up at the ferry and saw a line of cars waiting. It was around 4:30pm. The ferry was supposed to leave at 5pm. I ran out of the car in the rain to look for some tickets, and some annoying guy on the street yelled at me to stay in my car because, "Hey lady! The next ferry is at 8!" The ferry schedule online said the ferry would leave at 5pm, so I didn't see any reason to listen to a random guy who was going to say "Hey lady!" to me, and I wandered into some bakery to ask a more reliable source. Those guys debated amongst themselves, and it turned out that the ferry really was leaving at 8pm. WTF.

I got back in the car, and we debated for a while what to do. I was glad that I hadn't reserved anything for the next two nights, because this now gave us the flexibility to change our plans if we needed to. On the one hand, we could avoid the ferry altogether and just head to one of the other beaches along the lower coast of Costa Rica. On the other hand, I didn't know how long it would take to drive there, and we had already gotten so excited to go to Isla Tortuga for snorkeling the next day. There were some other places that had easy tours out to the island, so we considered Jacó or Herradura, which were a bit far away to the south, or staying overnight in Puntarenas. In the end, Puntarenas was such a trashy city that it seemed more worth it to at least get across the bay to the peninsula.

Once we decided to go on the ferry anyway, we had three hours to kill. We were just relaxing in the car, occasionally bothered by a guy trying to sell us sunglasses and a another homeless guy. Then the random annoying guy from the street came over and started talking to us. He told us that the guys from the ferry were going to come over at 7pm and give us these slips of paper that confirmed that we were waiting in line. Then we should take the paper and go to the ticket booth to buy the actual tickets. He came over a couple of times to update us on what was going on, and he didn't ask for any money, so felt bad for judging him on his randomness and annoyingness.

I was right to hate that guy! Andriy asked him, "So dude, just out of curiosity, do you work for the ferry?" The guy said he didn't work for the ferry, he just worked for tips. But then he left and didn't bother us, so we thought that he was a nice guy and got out two dollars to give him. He came back a few minutes later and said, "I'm leaving in a few minutes. Look, I take care of you, you take care of me. I normally ask for 10,000 colones." Okay, we were going to give him two bucks, but 10,000 colones?! That is roughly 18 dollars. Is he crazy?! 18 dollars for standing around and telling us some stuff over the course of an hour or two?! That is more than a lot of people make in the US, especially considering we were not the only car that he was probably helping. Yes, he did give us some useful information, but that is just flat out extortion. So I told him I would have to go to the ticket office and get change, and while I was gone, Andriy actually told him off and said that he could either take the two dollars or just go. Eventually he took the two dollars, but he made sure to say that it was not very much money. Yeah, whatever, dude, that is more than the cost of the ferry tickets.

Finally, at 8pm the ferry started to load. We were already tired, and once we loaded onto the ferry, I ate some cold Ramen noodles and fell asleep for the entire trip. It was pitch black outside, so there wasn't much to see, and I figured that we would get to see it on the trip back anyway.

Ferry sign.

While we were in Puntarenas waiting, we came up with some backup plans for when we got to Paquera and saw the road conditions. With an 8pm ferry, we wouldn't make it to Paquera until 9pm, and we wouldn't make it to Montezuma until 11pm. We were already reluctant to drive in the dark, so we wanted to make sure we didn't get stuck in the middle of nowhere, confused and lost. Our first option was to find a place in Paquera. Our second option was to find a place near Curu and just go on an Isla Tortuga kayaking tour from the wildlife refuge there. Our third option was to drive to Playa Tambor, which was closer than Montezuma and down a paved road. Our fourth option was to make it all the way to Montezuma.

When we actually arrived in Paquera, there were clear signs for Tambor and Montezuma, so it actually wasn't really a problem that it was dark out. We were driving along the coast, so even though we couldn't see the water, we could kind of sense it blowing in our direction and knew we were finally at the beach. We made it to Tambor in good time and then decided, what the heck, we'd go all the way to Montezuma anyway.

I was really happy that it all went so smoothly, because I kind of had my heart set on Montezuma already. It certainly sounded the best, and because of all of my research, I felt like I knew a lot about it, so that if we came across a hotel and wanted to know if we should stay there, I already had some idea about the price and the reviews that it got. I also knew some of the tour companies in town that would be able to take us to Isla Tortuga. After that I came to realize how important internet reviews really are, because even just knowing a little bit about the place made me feel so much safer and more comfortable staying there.

HOTEL LUCY

The final stretch of road in Montezuma was a little rough, but we made it to Hotel Lucy, which was the cheapest option in Fodor's at $24 a night. When we got there, I was pleased to find that there were rooms, and even more please that I was able to accomplish all of the check-in in Spanish with the security guard who was on duty. He was just such a nice guy, he put up with me getting exasperated trying to ask about Isla Tortuga tours, and actually I saw him getting in line for the ferry when we left two days later and said hi.

The room that we got was just okay. We had the choice of a nice cute little room with shared bathroom, or a similar but less cute little room with a private bathroom. We opted for the private bathroom, but the problem was that it had no door, only a curtain, so it made the room smell a bit musty the whole time. The other problem was that it had this useless window into the hallway from which you could hear all of the conversations that people were having on the porch. Still, we looked in the shared bathroom and thought it was disgusting, so we were glad to have gotten the private bathroom. To be fair, we're pretty sure the brown stuff was actually just wet sand, and it was gone the next morning after they cleaned. I think if we would have reserved or gotten there earlier, we could have gotten a nicer room with a beach view.

Despite the room (which was still a bargain at that price), the location was amazing. The little hotel was right on the beach with an adorable back porch, equipped with beach chairs and hammocks for lounging and watching the waves. Before we went to sleep, we went out back and walked around in the sand for a little while. The stars were crazy. Though they still weren't quite Belize stars, they did cover the entire sky, and for sure there were many more than any other place we'd seen in Costa Rica (probably because there were far fewer clouds at the coast to cover them up).

The nighttime sky.

Then we heard a bunch of tiny scraping sounds, and we discovered that there were thousands of hermit crabs crawling around everywhere. It was low tide, so they were all washed up on shore moving about amongst the rocks. It was like when the cicadas came to New Jersey, I was definitely glad to have my flashlight so that I could avoid stepping on them!

Costa Rica 2008 - Day 4 - La Fortuna to Monteverde

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY PART II

I woke up right at 4am and saw the volcano erupting (the second night I learned my lesson and kept my glasses next to the table in anticipation). I was so excited in that first instant that I turned to Andriy and went, "Andriy! Andriy!" and shook him awake. He woke up in a frenzy, and he told me later that the way I woke him up, he got really scared and thought that there were volcanic rocks barreling into our window.

It was really cool, from where we were, we could see and hear the individual rocks tumbling down the mountainside. We watched for a little bit in our room, and then we got our cameras and tripods and went outside to the porch to take pictures. I was surprised nobody else was up with us because the rumbling really was quite loud. Andriy got a really nice picture with his DSLR. I got some pictures too, but he was able to use slightly shorter exposure and lower ISO.

We sat out there for maybe 30 minutes. Even though we knew we had to get up the next day really early to catch the Venado Caverns tour, the air was fresh and cool, and it was so peaceful, like sitting at the foot of Mother Nature.

Arenal Volcano eruption.

LEAVING ARENAL OBSERVATORY LODGE

The weird guy wasn't there at the reception in the morning, but check out went fairly smoothly. The only thing that I didn't like was that everything on the room bill was itemized and in Spanish, so it almost looked like there were extra charges, but then I realized they just broke up everything that was included in the original room rate. The price was approximately what I had calculated, but it made me really uncomfortable not to be able to double check that they had added everything correctly.

Another thing that made me constantly skeptical was that I got very very slightly ripped off many times in Costa Rica during our stay. The reason for this is that they always round colones. If it's a touristy place that lists its price in dollars, if you choose to pay in colones, they convert the cost via a slightly rounded up conversion rate and then round up the result as well because they don't like to deal in small change. So really, you lose a couple of cents every time you go to one of those places. There's really not that much they can do considering that the exchange rate always changes a little, but I just feel like you should get rewarded and not punished for using the local currency! I don't think they should accept dollars in the first place, but if I go back, I think I will bring a whole bunch of dollars with me and use them whenever possible instead of colones. With that conversion problem, it's actually worth it sometimes to take the 3% credit card fee (which, incidentally, I don't think the credit card ended up charging me at all - sweet).

We had breakfast in the dining hall and took some last minute pictures before heading out to La Fortuna for our Venado Caverns tour. The guy we asked to take the picture also had a really fancy camera, so he was a good choice because I even saw him move the camera to lock in the focus and then set up the shot.

Last minute volcano pictures.

Last minute lake pictures.

VENADO CAVERNS

Everything always seems to run more smoothly the second time around. When we entered Desafio and said who we were, the guy working knew us immediately. He was like, "Oh yeah, you're the guys who were supposed to go yesterday morning," and I had to kind of laugh embarrassedly and say, "That's us..."

So the adventure started even before we got to the caves. The shuttle van that was driving us had to go pick up one more couple from their hotel, and as it was pulling out, we felt a big jolt and a shattering of glass (luckily only safety glass). The van had run right into the telephone pole as it was backing out. Apparently someone runs into that pole like once a week, so I don't understand why they don't just put a sign up or something to prevent that from happening. We had to wait there for approximately ten minutes while they got another (crappier) van. Andriy felt really bad for the van driver because he was probably going to get in some trouble, while we were just standing around taking pictures of the van and playing with the safety glass.

Tour bus after the accident.

While we were waiting, Andriy chatted with the tour guide and I chatted with the other passengers. There were two girls from Canada (one of them looked kind of like Lori but with a really cool accent), this girl from California who was dressed all sportily and had just been chilling around Costa Rica for a few weeks, and this couple from the hotel we were picking up at who were also from California and were there with the GAP tours. I liked them a lot, and the woman helped us take pictures while we were in the cave. They also had a Canon camera, and the guy had a waterproof case for it, so I asked him what he thought about it (he loves it). The thing that turns me off about the case is that it only works on one model, so if my Canon breaks, I can't use the case anymore either. Plus it's a little clunky.

The ride was roughly an hour long, and even though the scenery was nice, I sort of faded in and out of sleep the whole way. We stopped at some random place on the way, which I wasn't sure if this was part of the company or just the van driver's house, because on the one hand we picked up rubber boots for the caving, but on the other hand the driver also left and his wife and baby came out to replace him driving. The wife drove with the baby in the front, between her and the guide in a little baby carrier, and for some reason I suddenly thought of Britney Spears.

When we got there, we had some time to put on our boots and go to the bathroom. I was lucky that they let us bring waterproof cameras (though they said no cameras, I brought mine anyway), and even though my camera started fogging up halfway through, we got some decent pictures in the beginning and were able to avoid paying $20 for a CD that the professional photographer took of us (though I did still contemplate it because those pictures were nice). While we walked through some fields towards the cave (passing lots of "caca de vaca" aka cow poop), our guide joked, "This is my first time in the cave. But don't worry, I have a map!" He was funny actually, he said he was actually from Venado: "I was born in the cave. Wait. No. Sorry, I don't mean in the cave!"

Ling and Andriy before caving.

Our guide.

Cave entrance.

So Desafio gives what they call "adventure tours," which are basically not so much about history and nature and more so about going out and doing really fun (but also slightly dangerous if you're not careful) outdoorsy things that look straight out of an REI catalogue. So even though we got some minor history about the caves being limestone caves created a long long time ago, really there was not much explanation throughout the whole tour and more so crawling around in muddy water through tight crevices. Which I loved, so it was okay. Aside from pointing out spiders and bats and telling us to step on his shoulder as we climbed up the rock, the only thing that the guide really said the whole time was to keep asking us, "You doing okay? You like it?" He did that, seriously, like every other minute.

When we first got in the cave it was fairly spacious and the water was only about ankle deep. There were holes in the ceiling that reminded me of a spinal cord and made the whole thing feel like we were in the belly of some prehistoric beast. The guide said that the ammonia of the bat poop eroded the limestone over many many years. The weird thing about that is, how did the bat poop get on the ceiling?

Holes in the ceiling from bat poop.

They gave us these masks that we could wear if there was too much bat guano, but we never really needed them. We only needed to watch where we put our hands so that we wouldn't touch the poop... or the big creepy crawlies! The Canadian girl touched one and screamed.

Bats!

Creepy crawly.

Then the further we went, the more wet and cramped everything got. We crawled through some of the tiniest holes, and during one loop the big guy that was with us couldn't come through because the hole was so tiny (luckily it was a loop so he could go the other way). There were quite a few mini waterfalls, which were refreshing and beautiful, and we used them to wash our hands and bodies of sandy mud from the floor.

Some parts we had to step carefully because it wasn't obvious where the stones on the ground were, and I was terrified of taking a misstep and plunging into a much deeper hole below. I liked the boots that we were wearing, though, which were thin enough to be able to feet the floor texture with our toes (though some pebbles got in the boots and rubbed against my ankles and gave me blisters). During one of the passageways, we had to climb down some rocks by stepping on the guide's shoulder, and I jumped a little and hit a rock with my back. It wasn't too bad, but just reminded me that we had to be careful! I was surprised actually that they never asked us to sign a waiver, because something like this in the US would require one for sure. There were more climbing things later on, but I went more slowly and it was fine.

We ended up in this huge cavern with a big waterfall running down the side, right before we climbed out the exit. I had so much water in my boots that I had to lift my leg high in the air to dump it all out. We walked back up to the restroom areas and rinsed off in the showers. They gave us apple juice and water, we looked at the pictures on the computer, and we played with the baby a little before we hopped back on the van and headed back.

Andriy in the cave.

Ling in the cave.

Little butt going into the big butt.

Ling and Andriy during caving.

Ling and Andriy after caving.

Before we left La Fortuna we went back to La Choza de Laurel for lunch. This time Andriy just got a chicken soup because he didn't want his stomach to react. I was actually also finding it a bit like Taiwan (where too much heavy food plus heat was making my stomach feel less hungry), so I also got a soup and a side of fries. The soup was absolutely delicious, and it was very light which was nice.

ROAD TO MONTEVERDE

La Fortuna to Monteverde.

It was a little after noon when we headed out to Monteverde. Actually, the place we were staying was just a bit outside of Santa Elena, but the two towns are so close together that I'm not really sure if we were ever in Monteverde. Monteverde is actually really close to La Fortuna, but for some reason there is no road that goes directly in between them. Instead, you have to go all the way around Lake Arenal, which is not that long of a distance but for some reason takes 4 hours. Here's why.

Driving started out with the same wonderful paved road from our trip to La Fortuna. Even though the yellow line eventually disappeared and the road began to wind more and more around the mountains, it was still paved and gave us spectacular views of Lake Arenal. I finally decided to start driving mountain roads, and it actually wasn't so bad once I understood when to slow down and when to accelerate (gas for better control in the turns), and then after that it was a breeze.

Ling and Andriy at Arenal Lake.

At one point we got stuck behind a truck. Actually, it happened a few times that trucks would come in from the nearby town and slow up a line of like ten cars, all driving 20kph and inhaling nice truck exhaust. But, it was only once that we got to get this great picture of guys hanging out the side windows of their cars:

Guys hanging out the side of their car (click on the picture to see the larger view, you can't really see the guys so small...)

Then we reached the sort of midpoint town, Tilarán. So the entire way that you're driving, there are clear signs for all upcoming towns, up until you get to Tilarán. Then, suddenly, you're in the middle of the town facing a menacing dirt road that just screams, "Turn back, this is the wrong way." So I got out of the car and asked some woman who told me that we just needed to turn around and the boy in the middle of the road would give us information.

So we turned around, and sure enough there was a kid who was probably 14 years old with a little leather folder who told us some directions to continue on to Monteverde. Then he showed us some really (and I mean really) ghetto photocopied maps, showed us this "license" that he had, and said that if we wanted the maps it would cost 2000 colones (roughly 4 dollars). We didn't really need the maps, but then after some internal debate we gave him the money and figured that we were supporting the locals (Andriy called it a reward for learning English). The funny thing is that Andriy had read some website of these two Russian photographers who said that they had also made a wrong turn in Tilarán and also bought some maps from a local kid, and even though they didn't really need the maps, they also figured they should support the locals.

Sure enough, right after we passed the boy, there was another sign for Monteverde. For some stupid (or not so stupid) reason, there was only one spot in the entire trip that we did not see a sign for Monteverde, and conveniently there was a kid there to remedy that for money. To be fair, there were a couple of times on the road where, though we were pretty sure we were going the right way, we were reassured by confirmation from the map.

The road from Tilarán was not good. It was an entirely dirt road with occasional potholes that worsened once it started to rain. The rain was kind of fun because we closed the windows and let the muddy water splash up all around the car. As we got closer to Monteverde the road became more mountainous, but the air and the clouds and the valley scenery made it extremely peaceful and relaxing. Not to mention the cows in the road...

Cows.

The road.

We passed through Santa Elena and stopped to get some money from the ATM. I went to the bank only to realize that I didn't know where my ATM card was. I looked everywhere, and even now I have no idea if I left it in the machine at the airport, dropped it somewhere, or just put it in some unknown location in my bags. This kind of freaked me out a little, but I just trusted that everything would be fine, and I looked up my bank account on the (super) slow internet the next morning at El Sol. Since there were no charges after already so many days, I just figured I could take care of it later. Luckily, Andriy was still able to go and take money from his account instead.

BEST SUNSET EVER

We thought that the place would be right outside of Santa Elena, but it was actually 15 minutes or so down yet another dirt mountain road to get to El Sol. I suppose that we're attracted to these places because they are so far off the beaten path, and certainly the distance from town was rewarded by the most fantastic vistas ever. As we were driving I looked to the right and just saw a sunset that was absolutely breathtaking. I think the biggest tragedy is that I kept assuming that we would be there really soon and hence be able to settle down and take some pictures, but unfortunately, as Javier the owner's son said, "When you see a sunset you just have to stop and take the picture. The sunset waits for no one."

The best we could do were the pictures from the very beginning of the sunset, when we stopped to relieve ourselves on the side of the road before Santa Elena, and the pictures from the very end of the sunset, when we settled down in our cabin and saw the best location for a balcony I've ever seen. The sunset in between - the full blown sunset - it would be difficult to describe, it really was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was like the whole sky exploded, with the sun radiating through the center of the clouds, and color everywhere just painting the entire sky. It was really amplified by our proximity to the clouds at that altitude, you just felt like the whole thing was going to swallow you whole.

Sunset beginning.

Sunset ending (this is the header picture of my blog, but this one had longer exposure, so there is a little more detail of the valley).

EL SOL NUESTRO

El Sol was rated Fodor's choice and was another place that people just absolutely loved on TripAdvisor. It seemed a bit pricey to me at about $95 for just a cabin ($125 for the bigger one), but everyone who was there basically said it was the most calming experience they'd ever had. Some quotes: "The spiritual vibe you get is amazing." "It is difficult to describe this place... it has a positive energy that starts with owner, Elisabeth, and spreads to all corners of the property." "... owned and operated by a decidingly zen German lady..." I figured I needed a little Zen in my life, so it sounded perfect.

Elisabeth's thing is to give everyone hugs (according to a bad review, even if you don't want them). She even said in her email, "[blah blah blah about directions]... you see the trail to the main house... where you have me sitting at the computer, waiting for you with my hug!" So, true to form, we saw the little wooden yellow sun (no other name sign) and pulled in, and there was Elisabeth with her son Javier, waiting with a hug. My hug was a bit rushed because I was apologizing for being a bit late (though I had emailed her to tell her about the tour mishap, we were still delayed by the rain and having to get cash from town), but when Andriy finished parking the car and extended his hand, she was like, "Sorry, I give hugs."

We were lucky because we were supposed to stay in the little cabin, and we ended up getting upgraded to the big one for free. I don't know what the little cabin was like, but the big cabin was definitely worth the price of the little cabin. This was like the king suite of cabins. It was huge, with a beautiful balcony overhanging the valley where you could just sit and breathe and watch the sunset (that's where we got the last pictures of the sun going down). There was also a kitchen area, a dining table, a living area with a couch facing the big glass windows to the balcony, an elevated sleeping area with optional sliding wooden panel to separate it from the living area, and a bathroom with a bathtub and hot water.

Being there, I immediately regretted having to get there so late and cutting short the six hours of relax time I had planned. I especially lamented the fact that we weren't able to be there thirty minutes earlier so that we could have gotten the best sunset pictures. If I were to go back, I would stay for at least two nights and take the day in between to go on their horseback riding tour into the valley.

Kitchen.

Dining table.

Bed.

Elisabeth was actually really busy the entire time we were there, and I only talked to her a little when we first arrived, and then one more time when she sent some guy over in the morning with a telephone with her on the other end. Apparently she had business in the main house and couldn't leave. However, we got the pleasure of spending a lot of time with Javier, who was totally hot btw. One of the reviews had even said, "Just keep the young teenage girls away from the host's son... he's extremely good looking." The thing was, I saw a picture of him on their website, and that was when he was much younger, and he was sort of chubby and not very impressive, but he really grew up. Turns out he's married though, we saw him in town the next day with his wife. Andriy thought his wife was too plump for him, but I guess Latino men like their women with curves...

Javier came with us to our cabin to help us arrange zipline/canopy tours for the next morning. Since we really wanted to take pictures of the sunset, he waited for us and chatted the entire time. He's approximately our age, so talking with him was just like meeting someone new at school, someone that you really clicked with. He was really cool, and his English was excellent (I was actually really surprised that he didn't speak any German). He had helped us carry our luggage, but since he seemed so much like a friend it didn't even occur to me to tip him or anything like that.

Javier was also a tour guide, which meant that he knew the best stuff and also had great connections and was able to convince us not to go to Selvatura for our zipline/canopy tour and to go to Aventura instead (we didn't regret it). Apparently Selvatura is now so popular that the tour sizes are like seventy people, which is way too much, and plus Aventura has a Tarzan swing, which is awesome. Since all those guys knew him, we didn't even need to bring our student IDs, which was good because I didn't have mine. Javier is currently building his own cabin near the others, and he got this horrible looking patch of raw skin on his hand from an accident with the sander. He told us about Costa Ricans, how they view tourists (they're just used to the tacky American attempts at Spanish), when and why their family settled there, and all sorts of tidbits about Costa Rican life.

I was shocked to find out that Javier dropped out of school at 14 and has been working ever since. The reason this surprised me was that he was really intelligent and knew a lot about a lot of things, even technical things, and it just seemed a shame. It was interesting that some places just have different values, and maybe we put so much emphasis here in the US on education, but maybe in some place like Costa Rica there's not a huge market for the set of skills you would learn in college (at least not as huge as the tourism market). Or, is education really intrinsically the ticket to success, regardless of the situation?

After Javier left, Elisabeth arranged for the local family to bring us dinner for twenty bucks, which was really nice because we didn't have to go out again down that bumpy road. This boy around 12 years old came and delivered it to our door in this big picnic basket. There was fried pork, shrimp, rice and beans, mashed potatoes, tortillas, salad, and some other stuff. The only menace was that there were a couple of bugs in the cabin from when we sat outside on the balcony with the door open, and we also had to first clean some ants out of the coffee maker. But the food was delicious (there was quite a bit, but I wished there was more).

Before dinner Javier had walked us to the Finnish sauna, where we had sat for a little while trying to light a fire in the burner. We went back an hour or so later to put some more wood in, but it never really got hot like we wanted, which was a pity. I checked in again the next day when some other people were using it, and it still wasn't terribly hot, so we probably should have just used it when we were in there. The smell of the wood was really nice though, and the pool outside had a couple of cute toads on the side, though I thought it was a little too cold outside to go in. We napped for a little while and returned again at 11pm, at which point we gave up and decided to go to sleep.