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Published: April 7th 2016
Inside The Hollow Tree
Climbing up the hollow tree in Monteverde. On the inside.I could really have done with more sleep as I rose nice and early for the 6.30am bus in Puerto Viejo. At least I would get plenty of opportunities to sleep on my two buses to Monteverde...
...well, make that one bus ride to San Jose.
A late departure ("Tico time"), two long stops for "breaks" and heavy traffic meant that I didn't get into San Jose until 1420 - which if my WhatsApp conversations with Kurt and my Lonely Planet were anything to go by, meant that I had ten minutes to catch what would probably be the last bus to Monteverde that day.
Arriving at one of San Jose's many bus terminals, I had no idea where I was nor which terminal I had to go to to catch the bus to Monteverde. I had a terminal name from my Lonely Planet but I knew something fishy was going on when the taxi driver I had chosen (more like, the taxi driver who chose me) had no
maria (meter) and then quoted me US$25 to where I needed to go. Or where I thought I needed to go.
Anyway, I took my bag out of the trunk and
Volcan Arenal From Our Boat
Crossing the lake during my journey from Monteverde to La Fortuna. went to ask the man at the ticket office for a second opinion.
The terminal I needed to go to was just one block away. Arriving at the badly-signed bus terminal / shopping mall, I found the buses going to Monteverde - and also found out that I had indeed now missed the last bus of the day. Having already discovered in
Puerto Viejo that I had a lot less money than I thought, the last thing I needed was more unintended expenses to stay a night in San Jose, a city I had planned on avoiding altogether.
Luckily the bus terminal / shopping mall had free wifi which I could use to find a nearby hostel and to tell my booked hostel in Monteverde that I wouldn't be making it that night. FFS. And from all the partying I had done in
Bocas del Toro as well as Puerto Viejo, I was now desperately tired and had a cold coming on...
From my experience in trying and ultimately giving up on trying to get to Tortuguero as well as this missed connection in San Jose, Costa Rica was proving to be the most expensive and logistically difficult country I have travelled through
Zip Line Action
Me making my way across one of the longer zip lines on the course in Monteverde. so far on this trip.
Like the
other San Jose, this one by all accounts is also a shithole. And nothing I saw suggested anything different - a city full of non-descript, often rough-looking two storey buildings, the area around the bus station and my hostel looked sketchy-as. Sketchy enough that there is large garage-like door separating the hostel from the street with a bouncer-type screening everyone coming in and out, and that I was recommended by the lady at the front desk to take a taxi rather than walk the seven blocks to the bus station the next morning.
I'm sure that there are nicer parts of the city and that there are some interesting things to do, but everyone who has been there told me not to spend any more time there than I had to. So I didn't.
I was obviously running late the next morning so I didn't appreciate the receptionist being out to get coffee which delayed my check-out, nor did I appreciate the hundreds of runners on an organised run through the city holding up my taxi! Of all times to have a fucking fun run! Luckily the buses don't leave on time here
Crater Lake & Arenal
The crater lake at the top of Cerro Chato in La Fortuna with Volcan Arenal in the background. in Costa Rica...
There is a shit-ton of things to do in Monteverde but they all have their price. I had a hard time fitting them all into my two days too - I wanted to chill on my first afternoon on arrival as I was super-tired but I knew that I had to something that afternoon.
Sleep deprivation has the same effect as alcohol if you're really short on sleep and I needed an activity to wake me up – so why not used my sleep-deprived bravado to go zip-lining through Monteverde’s cloud forest canopy!
The reason people come to Monteverde is for the unique cloud forest that exists in the mountains here and the unique wildlife that it supports. It has also become somewhat of an adventure sports capital with zip-lining perhaps the most popular activity undertaken here.
I have done some small scale zip-lining before, but this adventure park had 11 different zip lines including the longest one in Latin America coming in at a mile long, 200m above the canopy and done “Superman” style so you really feel like you’re flying.
The first few zip lines had you feeling giddy and the longer ones
Like Superman
Soaring through the air over the canopy in Monteverde, it really does feel like you're flying. got you excited – but it was the first 1km+ one that had you soaring over the canopy that really got the adrenaline going and you whooping with excitement.
It was then time for the big ‘un – the one-mile Superman.
No doubt – it was an amazing experience. As you come out of the canopy and over the valley, you realise what it is like to fly. And you’re going so fast as well. And then you realise you are not really flying when the harness starts squeezing against your chest so hard that you start wishing for the ride to be over.
There was a twist in the tale though.
Included in the tour is a jump off a 45m-high Tarzan swing. This was actually what I was freaking out about the most. I would have to jump off a 45m-high platform! However, I still had the adrenalin from the zip lines coursing through my veins so I was up for it. Even hearing the screams of everyone jumping off ahead of me wasn’t putting me off.
“Imagine you’re Bond”, I kept telling myself. He wouldn’t shirk – he’d even do it with some style.
Strapping me in,
Welcome To The Jungle
Inside the Monteverde Cloud Forest. the guides lead me to the edge of the gate – and as soon as it opens, you’re basically pushed out – there is nowhere else for you to go when the gate closes.
I’ll admit it – I was screaming. For the first two seconds anyway, when you’re free-falling – and then you feel the rope pulling you up and you go careening back towards the sky. By now your fear is replaced by the thrill of flying back towards the sky, safe in the knowledge that the rope has got you.
Definitely the highlight of the tour.
I wasn’t about to pay through my nose for average food here in Costa Rica, so I paid a lot less for average food instead and cooked myself some pasta. I met a couple of Americans and a Scot in the hostel kitchen where I had some very interesting conversations about drugs and football with each respectively.
Although it is the main draw of the area, the Monteverde Cloud Forest was ultimately disappointing. It wasn’t cloudy for a start, which removed any sense of gorillas-in-the-mist from the forest, the hanging bridge wasn’t exactly thrilling having already done the zip-lining,
the view over the mountains was OK only, the waterfall was average and after a while, you realise you are just walking on concrete paths through forest that is just…forest. I was done after a couple of hours but had two hours left to kill before the next bus back into town. There is a lot of wildlife but a bird was the only thing I saw the whole time I was there – there were many groups with guides to help pick them out – as an amateur rather than David Attenborough, I couldn’t spot shit.
Perhaps the best thing about the place is the peace and tranquillity – in some parts, the cloud forest is completely silent.
Much cooler than the cloud forest was a parasitic tree with a hollow trunk about a thirty minute walk out of town. Off a non-descript path into the woods, this tree started growing on another tree, eventually encasing and smothering it, living off the host tree’s nutrients and eventually killing it. Once the dead tree has collapsed and disappeared, the parasitic tree has anchored itself into the ground with a hollow trunk where the host tree once was, and one
Looking Down...
...from the top of the hollow tree in Monteverde. can then climb through the trunk to the very top. Very cool. The view at the top wasn’t great as you still had other trees and branches in the way, but it was still a unique experience. One that perhaps might not pass health and safety in Europe or the US. But best of all, this experience was free, in this horribly expensive town.
Which manifested itself the next day when I paid US$30 to visit the Hanging Bridges which were…ultimately disappointing as well.
The long and high bridges are a little exciting although the best bit was walking literally across two beams across a small section of the highest bridge, a result of the repairs being carried out on it. The workers plopped down a flimsy metal panel to bridge the gap – which I almost put my foot right through – to help people get across and it was all a little nerve-wracking. I’m not sure this would pass health and safety in Europe or the US either.
Otherwise, you are basically walking through forest again which minus the clouds gets rather boring rather quickly. And worse yet, you got to experience just how super-touristy Costa Rica
Hanging Bridge, Monteverde
The longest one at 135m at the park of hanging bridges. is while you wait in line to buy your tickets. There are loads of loud, obnoxious, older tourists and families from the US – the most annoying kind of American tourists.
Also, the walk is done after an hour, giving you an hour to kill waiting for the next shuttle back into town.
The whole experience in Monteverde felt a bit like attending a school camp in the woods, what with my cabin accommodation at the hostel and all the different adventure activities on offer. All in all it is probably worth visiting for just a couple of days, the zip-lining and the hollow tree being the must-sees – everything is probably best skipped.
After doing the hanging bridges in the morning, I was then off to my final destination in Costa Rica – La Fortuna, a town right next to Volcan Arenal, a volcano that erupted suddenly in 1968 and kept doing so until some five years ago.
The “jeep-boat-jeep” trip to get there was one of the more interesting journeys I have undertaken – especially when you’re zipping across the lake in the boat with Arenal in full view. It was incredibly scenic. The farmland
Arenal Hostel Resort
A proper resort...including a swim-up bar. you pass en route to the lake reminded me a lot of the farmland back home in New Zealand.
The hostel I was staying at was called the Arenal Hostel Resort – because it literally
is a resort, complete with swim-up bar! The pool was set at an annoying temperature though – too warm to cool you down and not warm enough for you to lie in there for an extended period of time.
It was while I was staying here that I realised that I was sans my camera battery charger! It was a little despairing because I am not sure I’ll be able to find a shop that stocks it since I don’t plan to be in a big city for some time. My camera is basically rendered a big, black brick until I can find another one. So annoying. Luckily I have my iPhone although it is just not the same. Argh!
I still had enough juice in my camera battery to take it with me up Cerro Chato, a smaller volcano alongside Arenal complete with a crater lake. Arenal is too dangerous to climb, so tourists like us make do with this one.
Crater Lake
At the top of Cerro Chato. With five Americans and three Canadians in tow, the climb was hard, steep and muddy but I have probably done harder and longer hikes.
Eric, one of the Americans in our group, had a rather unfortunate but ultimately hilarious climb. Firstly, it was the “hardest thing” he’d ever done – hard enough for him to throw up several times on the way up. Then on the way down from the summit to the crater lake – which was ridiculously steep, slippery and muddy – he managed to slip and open a hole right down the middle of his shorts, treating anyone walking behind him to a fantastic view into the depths of his soul and providing the rest of his with a barrel of laughs.
The view from the top was perhaps a little disappointing with cloud covering the top of Arenal, but seeing and then swimming in a cold but refreshing crater lake was another tick off the list and a another cool experience.
Later that evening we were meant to go to one of many free hot springs around the town to have a few drinks while relaxing our tired legs. We managed to buy our drinks
Post-Climb Swim
Our pass to climb Cerro Chato also gave us free use of the pool afterwards to cool off. – poverty and Costa Rican prices ensured that all I could afford was a litre of boxed red wine – but things got a bit out of hand while we were drinking away at the hostel and we decided to stay there, get drunk and swim in the pool there instead. That is what can happen when you drink a whole litre of boxed wine.
We did manage to get out of the hostel to try and find some nightlife but it wasn’t really forthcoming – with an early shuttle to catch the next morning, it was probably a good thing we came back early.
And with that my time in Costa Rica was over.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and would love to have stayed longer – especially Puerto Viejo – but I just couldn’t afford to stay so long in such an expensive place. The things to see aren’t that great – it is more the things you do that are a lot of fun.
It’s time to change countries once again – my next blog entry will be coming to you from San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua!
¡Pura Vida!
Derek
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