Night tour - Monteverde!
Bats!
Tarantula
Luc & Bella
Fonda Vela - Room outside
ROOM AT FONDA VELA (web photo)
A HIKE IN MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST (web photo)
THE FAMOUS QAETZAL (web photo)
ARENAL FROM MONTEVERDE (web photo)The plan was to stay an additional day in Arenal, but Miguel told us how much there was to do in Monteverde - so we decide to hit the road - without any booking on the other side. Off on an early morning adventure - to Arenal waterfall. It is a steep hike down (and up - 320 steps!), but worth the walk. Callie and Luc is also brave enough to try the freezing water in the river. Spent the rest of the morning trying to get the photos off the camera, so that all of you can see what we are really busy with. Luc and I go for a drink at the only restaurant in town with wireless, so that we can stay in touch with everyone.
We leave at about noon, very sad to say goodbye to this very special place.
It is a long slow drive around the lake back to Tiliran. We stop at the Bug Shop (had lunch with Uri here was well on previous trip). Stunning little restaurant and shop - with great story. German family decided to move her and the 3 kids (triplets) saved a pregnant dog, who was bagged in a plastic bag. They decided to open a shop to raise funds which they use to save animals. We meet the dog “hero” - Bella - which is Spanish for beautiful!
Monteverde is just about 40 kilometers on the other side of Tilaran, but it takes us more than one and ½ hour to get there. It is a long and windy dirt road that just goes on forever! Monteverde is Costa Rica’s most famous tourist destination. We are exhausted by the time we hit Santa Elena. The town is not at all what we expected. Situated against the side of the mountain, with a small centre and little dirt roads leading in all sorts of directions. It takes us a while to orientate ourselves. We stop at our hotel booked for the next night to see if they have a room. Poco Poco is also located on the side of the road - but looks a bit commercial to us - however with great views and nice pool. Unfortunately the hotel is full and they tell us to try next door. Stunning hotel in stunning garden, but at $ 180 way to expensive - cannot understand that they would drop prices for last minute walk in. We then decide to try our luck and go to the No 1 hotel in Monteverde. A long and windy dirt road takes us to the Hotel Fonda Vela - the closest hotel to Monteverde Cloud Forest. We are very luck - there is only one room available. We get a key to check it out. This is much more what we expected. Stunning log cabins in the woods. The rooms are old, but massive with double bed and TV (much to Luc’s delight!). We got back to book and then the receptionist tells us they will include breakfast in the price - so we got an absolute bargain!
We also manage to book a night tour in Monteverde and quickly go to the Supermarket. Boil some noodles and quickly eat so that we can go on the tour. It is wet and misty when we get to the forest. We are in a group of 8 people and Luc is very scared of the darkness, but within 10 minutes he is walking behind the guide, sharing all sorts of African stories and seeing all the bugs!!! We see a Walking Stick, very small glass frogs and the highlight - a tarantula!!! Also the bats were great!
We are exhausted when we get home and asleep within minutes.
MONTEVERDE INTERESTING FACTS:
Straddling the Continental Divide at 1440 meters (4662 ft) and only 168 kms from San Jose, the Santa Elena and Monteverde Cloud Forest area offers one of the most interesting place to visit in Costa Rica. In Monteverde Costa Rica rain forest are found more than 100 species of mammals including 5 species of cats, over 400 species of birds including 30 kinds of hummingbirds, tens of thousands of insect species (over 5000 species of moths) and 2,500 species of plants (420 kinds of orchids). The area is acclaimed as one of the most outstanding wildlife refuges in the New World Tropics.Hiking, bird watching and canopy tours are the biggest attractions here, but horseback riding, coffee tours and the plethora of natural history museums need not be forgotten. El Espinero was the indigenous name for Monteverde, a name created by the Corobici Indians who originally hunted the region. In the early 1900’s the first Costa Rican settlers moved to the area and founded the town of Santa Elena. In the 1920’s, settlers began cultivating coffee, a major source of income in the area until the dairy industry became dominant. This occurred in the 1950's when several Quaker families from Alabama settled in the region, naming it Monteverde, meaning green mountains. The Quakers brought with them a sense of community and philosophy and they spurred the beginning of an economy with the introduction of cows and dairy. In 1953, they founded the Cheese Factory, which further spurred growth in the area. Right from the start, they preserved a third of their property (originally 3460 acres, 1400 hectares) in order to protect the watershed above their new settlement. Today, the Cloud Forest Reserve is a valuable addition to the Arenal–Monteverde Protected Zone. In 1972 the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve was established as the second protected area in the area and in 1977, the first hotel was built. Since that time, more than 40 privately protected areas have been established in the area and more than 200,000 visitors visit the Cloud Forest Reserve alone. Tourism is the number one industry in Monteverde today. After driving up a long, gravel road to reach the Monteverde area, Santa Elena is the first of the Monteverde villages you will encounter. Santa Elena is the largest of the three and the heart of the commerce in the Monteverde area. There is a supermarket, bank, police station, lots of restaurants and budget hotels/cabinas. Buses arriving to Monteverde all end their journey in Santa Elena, across from the bank in the center of town. The insectario, ranario and serpentario can all be found here as well. A little further up the road as you head towards Monteverde and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is the small town of Cerro Plano where you will find more hotels and restaurants of varying prices, an internet café and the ecological sanctuary, good for hiking, bird watching and night tours.
We leave at about noon, very sad to say goodbye to this very special place.
It is a long slow drive around the lake back to Tiliran. We stop at the Bug Shop (had lunch with Uri here was well on previous trip). Stunning little restaurant and shop - with great story. German family decided to move her and the 3 kids (triplets) saved a pregnant dog, who was bagged in a plastic bag. They decided to open a shop to raise funds which they use to save animals. We meet the dog “hero” - Bella - which is Spanish for beautiful!
Monteverde is just about 40 kilometers on the other side of Tilaran, but it takes us more than one and ½ hour to get there. It is a long and windy dirt road that just goes on forever! Monteverde is Costa Rica’s most famous tourist destination. We are exhausted by the time we hit Santa Elena. The town is not at all what we expected. Situated against the side of the mountain, with a small centre and little dirt roads leading in all sorts of directions. It takes us a while to orientate ourselves. We stop at our hotel booked for the next night to see if they have a room. Poco Poco is also located on the side of the road - but looks a bit commercial to us - however with great views and nice pool. Unfortunately the hotel is full and they tell us to try next door. Stunning hotel in stunning garden, but at $ 180 way to expensive - cannot understand that they would drop prices for last minute walk in. We then decide to try our luck and go to the No 1 hotel in Monteverde. A long and windy dirt road takes us to the Hotel Fonda Vela - the closest hotel to Monteverde Cloud Forest. We are very luck - there is only one room available. We get a key to check it out. This is much more what we expected. Stunning log cabins in the woods. The rooms are old, but massive with double bed and TV (much to Luc’s delight!). We got back to book and then the receptionist tells us they will include breakfast in the price - so we got an absolute bargain!
We also manage to book a night tour in Monteverde and quickly go to the Supermarket. Boil some noodles and quickly eat so that we can go on the tour. It is wet and misty when we get to the forest. We are in a group of 8 people and Luc is very scared of the darkness, but within 10 minutes he is walking behind the guide, sharing all sorts of African stories and seeing all the bugs!!! We see a Walking Stick, very small glass frogs and the highlight - a tarantula!!! Also the bats were great!
We are exhausted when we get home and asleep within minutes.
MONTEVERDE INTERESTING FACTS:
Straddling the Continental Divide at 1440 meters (4662 ft) and only 168 kms from San Jose, the Santa Elena and Monteverde Cloud Forest area offers one of the most interesting place to visit in Costa Rica. In Monteverde Costa Rica rain forest are found more than 100 species of mammals including 5 species of cats, over 400 species of birds including 30 kinds of hummingbirds, tens of thousands of insect species (over 5000 species of moths) and 2,500 species of plants (420 kinds of orchids). The area is acclaimed as one of the most outstanding wildlife refuges in the New World Tropics.Hiking, bird watching and canopy tours are the biggest attractions here, but horseback riding, coffee tours and the plethora of natural history museums need not be forgotten. El Espinero was the indigenous name for Monteverde, a name created by the Corobici Indians who originally hunted the region. In the early 1900’s the first Costa Rican settlers moved to the area and founded the town of Santa Elena. In the 1920’s, settlers began cultivating coffee, a major source of income in the area until the dairy industry became dominant. This occurred in the 1950's when several Quaker families from Alabama settled in the region, naming it Monteverde, meaning green mountains. The Quakers brought with them a sense of community and philosophy and they spurred the beginning of an economy with the introduction of cows and dairy. In 1953, they founded the Cheese Factory, which further spurred growth in the area. Right from the start, they preserved a third of their property (originally 3460 acres, 1400 hectares) in order to protect the watershed above their new settlement. Today, the Cloud Forest Reserve is a valuable addition to the Arenal–Monteverde Protected Zone. In 1972 the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve was established as the second protected area in the area and in 1977, the first hotel was built. Since that time, more than 40 privately protected areas have been established in the area and more than 200,000 visitors visit the Cloud Forest Reserve alone. Tourism is the number one industry in Monteverde today. After driving up a long, gravel road to reach the Monteverde area, Santa Elena is the first of the Monteverde villages you will encounter. Santa Elena is the largest of the three and the heart of the commerce in the Monteverde area. There is a supermarket, bank, police station, lots of restaurants and budget hotels/cabinas. Buses arriving to Monteverde all end their journey in Santa Elena, across from the bank in the center of town. The insectario, ranario and serpentario can all be found here as well. A little further up the road as you head towards Monteverde and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is the small town of Cerro Plano where you will find more hotels and restaurants of varying prices, an internet café and the ecological sanctuary, good for hiking, bird watching and night tours.
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