Our Ride to Monteverde

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After waking up at 6am, in a 100 degree, 100% humidity room, with a mosquito net over us suffocating our lives, we had breakfast, said goodbye to Pete, and headed outside to meet our tour guides for our jeep, boat, horse, jeep trip to Monteverde. We got into the jeep and met our guide, or so we thought. He then dropped us off at the Arenal Lake, where he said adios and sent us to our boat where we met our guide, or so we thought. We then enjoyed a beautiful boat ride on the calm Arenal Lake with the Volcano towering in the background. When that was over, we finally met our ranchero. We were pretty hesitant to leave our bags on the boat because they couldn't come with us, but they assured us that we would see them again, so we continued. Our ranchero's name was Meblyn and he was freaking awesome! We hiked up to meet our horses and he didn't say much at first. We got onto our horse (with some trouble for me =D) and headed out on our way. Karin's horse was named Nino and was a calm, alert, and obedient horse. My horse, on the other hand, was insane. His name as Cantinero, which in Spanish literally means drinker. And he was. Meblyn assured me that Cantinero didn't drink alcohol, but he seriously had some issues walking straight. At first I though that he was really dumb, but then I realized that every time he smacked me into a tree or brushed me up against a bush, he was avoiding rocks and water, making his trip easier, and mine, painful. I finally got some control over him, but eventually just let him run his path. The whole trip was amazing. We finally got Meblyn to loosen up and he told us a lot about his life. It was then that I realized the true meaning of a commonly said phrase in Costa Rica, Pura Vida. Meblyn was definitely living a pure life. He has a wife, two kids, (one’s a baby!!!) and a ranch where he has horses, pigs, and cows. He goes fishing often on the Arenal Lake and thoroughly enjoys his fresh catch. I asked him if he’s spent his entire life here, and he said he was born there and he’ll be there until the day he dies. He loves nature and is completely content with life. He had no urge for something more and that’s why it was so easy to befriend him. We are considered “Rich Gringos” everywhere in Costa Rica no matter what your financial status really is. Meblyn saw past that because there was no jealousy present because he knows he has a beautiful life and that made our ride so exciting and personal. We got some great footage of our ride and I’ll try to put it up soon. On our ride we kept seeing guava trees and I said I was craving guavas and Meblyn picked some and handed them to us. We asked him if it was ok to eat them at that time and he said why not, it’s the purist fruit you’ll ever have; grown in nature without chemical and washed everyday by fresh rain. It was much more beautifully said in Spanish, but I can’t remember his exact words. Then, we enjoyed our guavas as we rode on the old route to Monteverde. Finally, our two and half hour horseback ride ended with a bang. We crossed a river on horses! It was terrifying and exciting and amazing! Meblyn took some greats pictures, which will be up soon! Sadly, our ride was over and we had to say goodbye to Meblyn. I am so glad we decided to change who we were going to ride with because it ended up being an unforgettable experience.
At the end of our ride, we met up with our bags, thank god, and made our bumpy way to Santa Elena/Monteverde. Once again, as we got out of our bus, there were tons of people waiting to pounce on tourist money. We broke free of the crowd and walked 10 minutes to our hostel. The hostel was pretty rundown, but where it lacked in roofing and screens, it made up with amenities and ambience. Everyone was so friendly and we met so many awesome backpackers. We were planning to go discover the town but the rain just pouring down. We were able to head out to the supermarket, grab a few things, and then we spent most of the night chatting with people in our hostel. We then attempted to go out in this sleepy town, but just ended up at a pretty good pizza place and called it an early night.


At the end of our ride, we met up with our bags, thank god, and made our bumpy way to Santa Elena/Monteverde.

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