After New York City, my friend and I flew to San José in Costa Rica. There’s nothing worth mentioning about that city, so let’s jump to my second destination in Costa Rica on my Middle America trip in 2010 which was Santa Elena. We took a public bus to Santa Elena in the Monteverde Cloud Forest which took around five hours. Monteverde Cloud Forest consists of 6 ecological zones, 90% of which are virgin forest. It has over 2,500 plant species, 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species, 120 reptilian and amphibian species, and thousands of insects. We would see a few of them.

Unfortunately we arrived in the evening, so the popular hostel Pension Santa Elena was already full. You’ll see how these things suddenly work out for the better though because we we found a six person room for three of us with a private shower! You will start to appreciating these small things even after only a week of traveling. Cabinas Eddy was a great hotel to stay in for a few days.

Our stay in this town was mostly centred around activities, of which there are many to choose from. We opted for a bird spotting tour and horseback riding tour, which I will tell you more about in this post.

Bird Spotting Tour in Monteverde

In the morning we joined Freddy’s bird spotting tour. I had so much fun on this tour because Freddy, our tour guide was great and so entertaining! I don’t necessarily like birds so much but it was so much fun to observe him. Every time he saw a bird or another animal he would put his binoculars down and he would stare at us with big serious eyes and tell us what he saw. Then he would really take the time to make sure everyone saw the animal. On this trip I spotted hummingbirds and sloths for the first time in my life.

The tour would take us to some very random locations like this basketball court, but it also took us through a sort of jungle. 

Freddy’s signature stance. 

My friend and the girl we met in San José went on a coffee tour in the afternoon. Back then I didn’t drink coffee yet, so I didn’t join them. I made the mistake when I went on the Jameson and Guiness Tour in Dublin without liking the drinks, therefore I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

Horseback Riding

The next day we went horseback riding. I was quite nervous because the last time I had sat on a horse was when I was 12 and I fell off and broke my arm. However, when I got on it was like riding a bike. It felt so comfortable to be back on a horse and the ride was really enjoyable. The tour was organized by a family, so father and son took us through the mountains and the jungle areas. The horses definitely did not listen to our instructions, but they did manage not to fling themselves from the cliffs (mine seemed to be suicidal and kept walking straight towards the cliffs).

Incredible views!

The horses did have a will of their own. 

At the end of the tour the family gave us a lime drink and a delicious homemade empanada.  The dad also took us around his sugarcane fields and he showed us how to make sugarcane liquor. There was quite a big language barrier, because the family did not speak English and we did not speak Spanish, but by pointing and showing we understood a lot of what he was saying. At least we think… It’s safe to say we will not try to create our own sugarcane liquor just by following his instructions.

Conclusion

Santa Elena is a nice gateway town to visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest. You can do quite a few exciting tours and it’ll keep you busy for at least two to three days. We only spent two days there because we wanted to move on to La Fortuna (the town next to Arenal Volcano) as quickly as possible. More about that in the next post.

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