Monteverde aka Estoy en el cielo

Last weekend, I went to Monteverde with some friends. The name means Green Mountain. It's a 4-5 hour bus ride from San Jose, even though it's only a 140 mile journey. Why so long, you ask? Well, because there is not straight shot. No 4-lane highway. Instead, there's uphill and downhill on semi-paved or not-at-all-paved roads. There was a highway for the last hour or so...

We stayed in a really cute place called Monteverde Country Lodge. It reminded me of being at a summer camp because there was wood everywhere. The first night, there were only four other people besides Katie, Becky, and me. We literally had to walk uphill about 20 minutes to get to the hotel from the center of town. I would have been annoyed if (a) it wasn't so beautiful, and (b) it wasn't great exercise.

Hotel


The first full day, we went ziplining.

Survivors (Me, Becky, Katie) Seriously, why do I have a cabezon?

It wasn't your ordinary zipline. Not at all. It included the tradional lines, but then had a vertical repel down and a Tarzan swing. I was lucky enough to be the first to go on that one, so I had no idea what to expect. You're alone on a platform accept for the worker that pushes you off. Seriously. For the first few seconds, the rope is slack so it feels like you are going to plummet to your death. I screamed like a baby. Then I laughed. The last zip line was done superman style. What is that, you ask...instead of being harnassed by the chest, you're harnessed by the back and your legs are hosted up, making you completely horizontal. The line is 1km long, takes 40 seconds, and goes over a deep, green valley. It was awesome. Plus, I have it on video.

Tarzan Platform. Pushed from here, flew down passed lower platform into the open air. They stopped us by catching us in front of the stomach with a rubber padding thing. It hurt.


We also went to a butterfly farm, where our guide was a 15 year old tica who knew her insects like no other.

Scary Beetle that's noctural and blind.


On the morning that we left, my compañeras slept in while I went on a solo tour of the cloud forest. Amazing. I walked on hanging bridges over the forest. It felt like I was in a movie or something. It was really peaceful. Generally, I am a social person who avoids doing things without company, but I am glad that I did this on my own. I had time to reflect and take in all the nature.

Why is it called a cloud forest?