Monte Verde

I arrived at the San Jose airport at approximately noon; I cleared customs and immediately headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Monte Verde, a mountain town. On the ride over my taxi driver convinced me I should go to La Fortuna first, but I had missed that bus and decided that Monte Verde would have to do. I had about an hour to kill in the bus stop, and grabbed some lunch and a few beers before hopping on the bus. On the ride up there I had the pleasure of meeting two Dutch guys named Joep (pronounced yoop) and Bart. They are brothers; Bart had flown into Costa Rica to meet his brother. I ended up getting a hostel with them. It’s a great hostel, called Sleepers, highly recommended. We arrived late enough that we couldn’t do much that night save go to the store and buy some food, cook, and go out. It wasn’t the greatest night at the bars, but the next morning we went on a zip line tour which was incredible. Monte Verde, during the rainy season, is soaking wet. I discovered this. Despite the cold and wet, the zip lines were incredible. We zoomed over a large valley, usually, spanning half a kilometer or more. They also had a Tarzan swing, which is basically a large tire swing, and a superman swing which was over a kilometer. After the adventures we grabbed lunch and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next day we went out with a large group of people, including several Coloradans. I would end up following the Coloradans to La Fortuna the next day. In the morning, lacking the time to do much, we hiked in St. Elena national forest. It’s a rain forest. It’s wet. It’s one of the most incredibly green places I’ve ever been. To say the least I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then, as I said, we caught a shuttle to La Fortuna which is the town next to Arenal Volcano. The shuttle was fun; it included a boat ride across a small lake, which tickled my fancy nicely.