We arrived at San José airport on time with our AirCanada flight from Toronto and were ready for new adventures here in Costa Rica. After baggage retrieval we set out to find our rental car. The car rental office was not located in the airport so we had to locate the pickup spot for the free shuttle and wait until it arrived. After some we arrived at the at the car rental office and a few moments later we were on our way to the hotel we booked here in San José.

We decided to spend one night in San José before starting the long drive to Monteverde. The hotel was a small one not far from the airport so we would quickly be in a relaxed atmosphere.

The hotel was perfect for the purpose of having one night of rest before our Costa Rician adventure started for real. We had booked two rooms as we were 6 persons as Camilla’s sister had joined us for the first two weeks. After the breakfast we enjoyed the small garden before leaving for Santa Elena.

A good solid car was recommended for the roads in Costa Rica and as we were 6 persons we rented a Chevrolet Trailblazer 4WD. It had 7 seats, and spacious and comfortable for all of us with our luggage stowed in. This was my first time driving a car this size, but it turned out to be very easy and automatic transmission is something easily getting accustomed to. We only had to drive around 150 km but it would be driving on the mountain side on unpaved roads most of the time.

We had booked a house in a small town Santa Elena not far from Monteverde. Before our departure we had spend some time looking for accommodations and booking, so everything was in place and we had a firm route to go. Having arrived here it felt really good knowing this was in place, so all we had to do now was to relax and follow our bookings.

After some time we arrived at Santa Elena and located our house. Despite of it’s size we had to take a few rounds before be located our house. It was just at the end of the main road leading out of the town, but it is build just next to the road on the mountain side with its roof barely visible from the road.

The rainforest of Monteverde

Monteverde is a large nature conservation area located throughout several of the provinces in Costa Rica.

Children’s Eternal Rainforest

Or Bosque Eterno de los Niños (BEN) as it is called in Spanish is the largest private reserve in Costa Rica with the size of more than 30.000 ha. It is owned and led by Monteverde Conservation League, a non-profit organization. It was founded by a group of Swedish school students back in 80s With fundraising campaigns from children worldwide enough money was raised to buy the forest area.

The reserve has 4 different destinations:

• San Gerardo field station
• Bajo del Tigre
• Pocosol field station
• Finca Steller

We visited Bajo del Tigre, as it was closest to Santa Elena. Two of the other stations were located on the other side of the reserve, which meant quite a long drive from Santa Elena to reach them. This area only had trails whereas the others also offered sleeping facilities as well. The trail was well maintained and easy to follow. Most of the climbing was done driving there. Being the closest to Santa Elena it was also the highest located with an elevation of 1.300m. The three others are located at different heights which again means the flora will be different.

The path we followed was 4km long and took around 2 hours for us. It was really pleasant and the rain forest was beautiful. Being here for the first time you really felt small walking among the gigantic trees, flowers and bushes. This location did not have any hanging bridges or ziplines, only the trail for walking. There was no crowd here and a perfect way to start exploring the rainforest.

Selvatura Park

Was our second destination. There are multiple adventure parks in Monteverde but as this was only 20min drive which made it an obvious choice.

As the name suggests all kinds of adventures can be found here:

• Ziplining
• Hanging bridges
• Butterfly garden
• Hummingbird garden
• Insect exhibition
• Herpetarium
• Souvenir shops and restaurants

We decided for tickets for the hanging bridges, butterfly and hummingbird gardens and the herpetarium. Even though park has the longest zipline in Monteverde we decided to stay the ground. At first we started taking the hanging bridge tour. This is really an impressive walk, moving around in the treetops and some places even far above the canopy layer. We arrived in the morning and being in the clouds was a bit chilly so we had brought some long sleeves.

After the tour on the hanging bridges we went to the hummingbird garden. This is a small area where the hummingbirds are fed sugar water from small tanks.

By holding our hands and fingers close to the canisters the birds would land on our fingers while drinking. An experience we would not have missed handfeeding and having hummingbirds flying just past our heads was great fun.

After our experience in the hummingbird park we continued exploring to the bufferfly garden. It took some time to locate the entrance as it was a small walk from the entrance. The garden is inside a big dome, where the humidity was really increased, so we qucikley passed through it. Upon returning to the information desk we learned we were supposed to join a guided tour, which might explain why it was a bit difficult to locate.

Having learned about the guided tour we politley waited for the final visit to the herpetarium. The guide arrived, picked us up in the small group and we were taken to the herpetarium. Here there were different reptiles, snakes and frogs. The guide was good communicator and one of the learning about snakes we still remember: “Yellow will kill a fellow!”

We grabbed a bite in the restaurant before leaving. Even though we did not try all the things the park had to offer it still left us with a profound impression of the could forest. We did not see any aminals on our trails but this was only our first stop so we still have plenty of time here in Costa Rica.

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve (Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena)

It is located just a few minutes drive past Selvatura Park up the mountain. The reserve only offers a hiking trail, which might be one of the reason why it is less popular. The guidebook told us there was a chance to see some Quetzals and since we mostly have seen caterpillars and other bugs we gave it another try at this part of the cloud forest.

And finally after visiting 3 different reserves here in Monteverde we saw a Quetzal. It was just before the end of the trail where we passed under one sitting high in the tree top.

Our house was placed centrally and not far from the small town center with a few shops, restaurants and a lot of travel agencies arranging tours to the different reserves and parks. Actually trips all around Costa Rica were available but we had already our own trip planned so we just browsed the windows for inspiration.

The house was very spacious with a couple of bedrooms and a big living room. It was easy to make it cosy while resting our feet in between the hikes. It had a garden with a small stream and a dense vegetation. A lot of birds were singing in the trees especially in the morning.

One of the best things about the place was that a street kitchen was just next door. This place quickly became our favorite place to dine or bring home. It was driven by a very friendly family, a mother and her son. Even though the food was not Costa Rican but Mexican it was really good, lots of cheese, corn wraps and tasty chips.

One of the downsides to being in the town centre was that the sounds from the street were really clear and the house did not have sound proof walls like we are used to. So all the traffic going up hill cut right through to us.

Staying here in Santa Elena was a really good place to stay with easy access to the cloud forest and enough shops and cafés to spend our time when not being amazed by the huge rain forest.

Some pictures from the cloud forest where we had spend 4 nights. This was enough tine to explore the cloud forest. The temperature was nice and cool due to the altitude so we had not felt the tropical heat yet.

Santa Elena | Arenal | Samara | Glamping | Montezuma | Puerto Viejo | Manuel Antonio