Day 24 Travelling to Monteverde

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We had been planning to visit the 70ft waterfalls today which is a short taxi ride away, but it was quite pricey just to go and we were feeling lazy so we stayed in, did some laundry (heaven again), read our books on the balcony looking over the volcano and went for a smoothie. There was a guy in the cafe that had dreadlocks down to his ankles, it was quite gross, how clean must they be!?!? We subtly took pictures of course...

We´d prepaid for the bus-boat-bus trip to Monteverde which although was a little more pricey, cut off 6 hours of travelling! At 2ish, we got picked up and headed to gorgeous Lake Arenal which was huge and surrounded by rolling mountains covered in clouds. We could very well have been on a loch in Scotland! A short journey across the lake connected us with another bus which left soon after Tasha madly ran back to the boat after we realised we´d left our precious laundry on the back of it!! The bus was an interesting ride as the roads were unpaved and we were going VERY steeply upwards. In the rain and fog, surrounded by high fields and cows, it now seemed as if we could have been in Devon! Today seemed more of an English tour!

Getting more and more nervous about our destination, we trailed through tiny streets lined with not a lot except farm fields, small local stores and the odd house dotted about. The dreaded Nosara jumped back into our minds...where were we going! However we were pleasently surprised when we arrived in Monteverde which was much more bustling. We checked into Pension Santa Elena which was very backpacker like. Opting for a basic dorm, we payed up and sat in our room only to realise there was a space under the door the size which might invite a small dog to investigate. It was massive. The spider possibilities were just too much so we switched rooms to a better door-ed room!! (We later found out there were brand new rooms for $12 which had DUVETS (amazing), hot water bathrooms and plugs to attach your ipod in so it would play into the room! but we were on a bit of a strict budget after our travel costs, so basic room it was! We chatted with the host for a bit about what tours to do, scoped out the town a bit which was tiny, then made some dinner and ate with two lovely English girls (one from horsham!) who were Cambridge graduates and seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do with their lives. Ahem..yeah...us too.

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