Monteverde. Its more like a small town, but city worked better for alliteration.
Last weekend Christine a friend of mine visited Costa Rica. It was awesome to have somebody from home visit and we had an awesome time. She arrived on Wednesday, we spent the day in San Jose and went to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). It was amazing seeing pre-Colombian gold artifacts. Thursday morning we left for Monteverde, stayed there until Saturday then went to La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano where I got extremely sick. I will mainly talk about the experience in Monteverde since I’ve already been to and wrote about La Fortuna.Monteverde was absolutely amazing. It started with the place we stayed at. We stayed at a b&b type of place called Casa Batsu. It was small and about a 15-20 min walk outside of the town. What really made it amazing was the owner and the food. The owner was incredibly hospitable, super friendly and an all around great guy. He was also an amazing chief. We ate dinner there one night and it was an amazing three course meal. It started with his take on a Mexican soup (forgot what it was called). followed by an amazing piece of Tuna steak in a Thai sauce with some sides and ending with an unbelievable mango/banana ice cream desert. Unfortunately the desert wasn’t much and I could have eaten 4 times what I was given. The rest of the meal was so good I wish I could have eaten it again right after. With the stay, breakfast was included each morning. It was no normal breakfast by any means. It was also an amazing three course breakfast. Something I have never seen before nor experienced. The breakfast on both days started with an assortment of fresh fruit, and fresh fruit juice. On the first day we were served amazing juevos rancheros. The second day we were served 3 or 4 small amazing breakfast burritos. Both breakfast entrees were delicious. Following the entrees was a sweet desert-like french toast. The amazing food at Casa Batsu was worth the stay.
Monteverde is about 5,000 ft above sea level and it is a cloud forest. A cloud forest is basically a rain forest with persistent low level cloud cover. Because of this it makes for amazing views from basically wherever you are in Monteverde. Our first day in Monteverde we went ziplining and it was amazing. Overall it took about 3 hours and consisted of about 15 platforms. Now, I’ve gone ziplinning before, in Argentina and it was nothing compared to this. At some points your’re like 300 feet above the ground sailing through the air. At certain parts you’re above the tree line and there is nothing around you on either side but air and mountains. At other parts, you’re within the rainforest flying past the trees surrounded by fauna on both sides. It was an unbelievable experience. Part of the tour also consisted of a tarzan swing. You’re hooked up to a rope on a platform, drop down a couple of meters and swing into the tree line. It was slightly scary initially, but very fun. The last thing we did was called the superman. As you can imgaine, you are laying down instead of sitting. It was the longest line and also the last. While flying through the air on my stomach I couldn’t help but think how much it would suck to fall 300 feet to the ground below. But, I made it safely to the otherside without falling. Overall, ziplining was an incredible experience.The second day in Monteverde we did a hanging bridges tour and a coffee and chocolate farm tour. While doing the hanging bridges tour. “the pale sun burned away the morning chill and the clinging damp mist, revealing a gigantic silent world. Curtains of gray moss, and creepers and lianas, hung down in a tangle from the trees; orchids sprouted from the trunks. At ground level, huge ferns, gleaming with moisture, grew higher than a man’s chest and held the ow ground fog. Here and there was a spot of color; the red acanthema blossoms and the blue dicindra vine. But the basic impression was of a vast, oversized, green world and alein place.” Just kidding, that’s an excerpt from Michael Crichtons Congo, but it is very similar to how it felt walking through the hanging bridges. It was incredibly green, surrounded by plants of all sizes. In the distance clouds hung in the air. It was like Jurassic park. But then again, so is walking through every jungle part of Costa Rica. The second part of the day we did a tour of a Coffee and Chocolate farm. It was really cool to see the process of how that stuff is made and fresh chocolate is amazing. Monteverde is definitely worth the visit.
“He was also an amazing chief.” Tell me more about how he was an amazing chief!