Happy New Year! Lovely Llano Bonito & Adventurous Monte Verde

Wow! A new year! And if you had told me how I was going to celebrate New Year’s Eve, I wouldn’t believe you for a second. Maybe I could believe it of myself in extreme circumstances, but definitely not of Ken. It’s not his style. But before we get to how we celebrated, let’s rewind to the circumstances and events leading up to it.

Thursday, December 29, 2016 – The Last Slow Day

This was a great day! In the morning, we visited the coffee coop, which I’ve talked about. What I didn’t mention is that it also included a coffee tasting and coffee gifting. 

Coffee tasting/smelling

We tried to buy a bunch of coffee, but they kept giving it to us. But I still vow to buy some online! For lunch, we went with the Fernandez family to go FISHING in stocked pond. Ken and I both caught three fish. But don’t get any ideas about us being great fishermen, Ken also caught a tree, and I caught my own leg (and have the hook mark to prove it). 

Baiting his hook

Ken catching the tree

The fishing pond was in this beautiful little spot out in the middle of nowhere, and we got to ride in the back of the truck to get there, which I love. They cook up the fish you catch right on the spot, which is a lot of fun. 

Me with my fish

The spot was run by a little family. There was a little boy (probably about three) who was proud to show us how he picks coffee. Ken helped him out a little bit, and it ended with the little boy continuing to tell Ken where all the high ones where to fill his basket – super cute. 

Ken helping the kid pick coffee

Oh, and while Ken was on the seat to a little zip line, he nearly got attacked by the biggest spider I had ever seen! It looked kind of like a black widow, but the but was about the size of a tootsie pop – literally. He did a great job at staying calm, cool, and collected while Eligio used a stick to remove the descending spider.

After lunch, we got to go see the family that I had stayed with during my first time in Llano Bonito! It was like no time had passed, except for all the kids were much, much taller. They fed us and gave us coffee, and we were able to walk and pick guavas (Ken with kids on his shoulders), and it was absolutely lovely.

Ken helping Josue pick guavas

The family I stayed with before - now all grown up!

Ken’s Thoughts: I had no idea that making coffee was so complicated! And one product they had was so cool. It was a little cloth/paper packet that’s disposable, that folds open and hooks over the side of a coffee mug, and turns any cup into a drip coffee device. I think that the fold out coffee packets were extremely innovative, and I don’t see why more people don’t do it. Also, it continued to surprise me that even though these people don’t have much, they just continued to give what they had to us. We were both very appreciative. And I wish we could ride in the back of trucks like we can everywhere else, because it’s a lot of fun. I thought it was really cool how in their culture, the kids want to start picking coffee at a really young age to be like the adults, so the kid had his own mini-bucket with straps that he could practice with. And apparently they’re not afraid to recruit help from the local tourists. Also, that spider reminded me that I do, indeed, have a fear of spiders. (From Lila: Anyone would be stupid not to be afraid of that spider. That thing was a man eater). And I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the whole landscape was. It was crazy seeing the people that lived there look at it like it was mundane and every day. I think that’s all my thoughts.

View from the back of the truck on the way to fishing

Now, we’re going to transition a bit into a different format, and I think it will reveal why our New Year’s Eve was as it was. It was a bit of a marathon from here, so I think bullet points and timelines are appropriate to keep everything straight. I’ll elaborate when needed.

Friday, December 30, 2016 – Travel Day

• 5:00AM Wake up! - What’s kind of weird about waking up at 5am in Llano Bonito, though, it that we woke up to a bustling house. Everyone was already up, cooking breakfast, getting ready for work, etc.
• 5:50AM Bus adventures start! - We bussed from Llano Bonito to San Pedro, San Pedro to San Jose, and then took a taxi to a different bus station where we bought our bus tickets to Santa Elena for that afternoon.
• 11:30AM Children’s Museum – Wandered over to the Children’s Museum! Which ended up being pretty awesome, because a) they had coat check for our backpacks, b) there were lots of different exhibits, and c) the Spanish was simple enough that I could read most of it. Here’s Ken reenacting the spider attack:
  
  Then we stopped for Chinese food on our walk back to the bus terminal.
• ·2:30PM Bus to Santa Elena  - We bussed to Santa Elena, which is a little tourist hub/town right outside Monte Verde, which is a giant cloud forest. Similar to a rain forest, but more cloudy. You probably figured that out for yourself. One thing we were really excited about was seeing the animals, but most of them are nocturnal, so the best way to see them is with a night walk. Most of them start at 5:30, so we thought we had missed them when our bus pulled in around 7:20.  So when we checked into our hostel and learned there was one at 8:30, we jumped at the chance! So after impulsively signing up, we quickly changed clothes, and grabbed dinner.
• 8:30PM NIGHT WALK – Got picked up for the NIGHT WALK!!!! The capital letters are on purpose – it was that cool. We were in a group of about seven of us. We were the only Americans, which at first we thought was pretty cool, but turned out to be a bit of a bummer because it turns out that camping is kinda an American thing, and as a result, non-Americans don’t have as good flashlight etiquette (i.e. not shining it right in someone’s eyes). But despite a couple blinging moments, it was still an awesome experience. We bussed out to the middle of some forest, and then we followed a guide as he took us on winding paths up and down and back and forth looking for animals. I don’t know how our guide did it, but he was able to find things that we never would have been able to find. We saw a huge stick insect, an orange knee tarantula, a sloth way up in the trees, a few kinkajou (which our guide was super stoked on because they’re endangered and really rare to see!!), a frog with super red eyes, and a few super poisonous snakes that will kill you within two hours if you’re bit by them (a guy tried to poke it to make it move – but the guide thankfully stopped him, saying that he was already in strike position). But my absolute favorite thing that we saw was a sloth super close up. It was probably five feet above our heads, all stretched out because it was eating. He was swinging upside down in the (harsh!) wind, but seemed not to mind it at all. He was just happily munching away. We watched him for a really long time, and although I’m sorry that I don’t have any pictures to show you, Ken and I were thankful to not have our cameras because we were able to just soak up the experience. The guide said that it had never happened. After the night walk, we bussed it back to the hostel, arrived back around 11pm, and went to sleep.

Ken’s Thoughts: Driving through San Jose in a cab and bus, I felt glad that we didn’t set aside a lot of time to spend there. Maybe I’m not a big city person, but it seemed like there were a lot of better ways to spend our time – like out in the rain forest. I’m glad to have witnessed it, but I think I’m satisfied with the amount of time we spent there. The drive up to Monte Verde was beautiful, but a bit different than I expected. I had an image that most of Costa Rica was all rain forest and jungle, but as we got close to Monte Verde, it started to get that way. Once we arrived, the whole area was beautiful. I really liked our hostel and our double room – it wasn’t just function, it was nice. And we were both so thankful to have a night tour offered up to us! And just an hour after we had checked into our room. And that night tour might have been the highlight for me for Monte Verde. Pretty much that and the zip line tour were my favorite things. It was really exciting seeing all the nocturnal animals active and in their natural habitat, while in the complete black other than our flashlights. And you know you found something truly great when you’re tour guide, who is a season veteran, is in awe of multiple things you saw that night. Being able to watch a sloth from just 6 feet away eating and in his natural habit was really amazing. And while I don’t know much about kinkajous, it was clear from our tour guide’s reaction that our seeing it really was something special. I was really happy with just how many animals we got to see. I think that’s all my thoughts.

Saturday, December 31, 2016 – Grinding Monte Verde

Do you know the term “grinding”? I learned it from Ken. It’s a video game term for getting as much out of a game as possible, as quickly as possible. This wasn’t our original intention for Monte Verde, but hey, things don’t always go as you plan.

• 6:15AM Wakes Up! – Ken woke up to scope out options for the day and signed us up for the hanging bridges for the afternoon (bridges though the treetops).
• 7:05AM Wake Up – Ken woke me up saying, “time to wake up, we’re leaving in twenty minutes”. So I get dressed, we shovel down breakfast, and we jump on a bus headed to Monte Verde.
• 7:25AM Monte Verde! – We opted out of doing a guided tour for Monte Verde, and instead paid our entrance fee and entered the park with a map and super stylish ponchos.  

         One of the cool things about going without a guide is that we could go where we wanted, when we wanted (and we saved money!!). The only problem, though, was that we didn’t know where to look for things, or what they were when we found them. Our main priority was seeing the mammals that we had seen the night prior, so we felt okay to not pay someone to help us find the birds. Still, I was a little bummed when we would find something and I wouldn’t know the name of it. Praise the Lord for my creative husband! He came to the rescue with some homemade names for the birds we saw, which oddly was completely satisfying for me. We saw a bunch of chirp-chirps, three fat-fats, two packs of chub-chubs, two poof-poofs, and a handful of black humming birds. No quetzal, unfortunately. We’ll save that for another trip. J We hiked (and I mean hiked! Steep, big hills), until it was time for us to put a little pep in our step to get out of the park and catch the last morning bus back.

• 11:45 Lunch & Impulsive Decision Making – When we got back from our morning adventures, we chatted with our hostel owner about different bus options for tomorrow. We were considering moving on from Monte Verde the next day, but we didn’t know where we wanted to go, or when. He gave us some options, and we said we’d talk them over during lunch. So we walked down the street to a Soda (small restaurant), and got some food while going through guidebooks. We decided to take the 4:20AM bus out the next morning (whew!), and we also decided that despite thinking we were okay skipping the canopy zip lining (we had done zip lines before in Santa Cruz and felt pretty satisfied), we still kinda wanted to do them. And when in Rome, right? So we decided to talk to our hostel guy about if it was possible to join a tour late in the afternoon. So after lunch, we walked back to the hostel and booked the early morning bus ride, and tried to see if there was a late option for the canopy zip lining. The problem was, we already had tickets to go to the hanging bridges at 2:00, and that was the same time that most the last zip lines were. Our hostel guy said he’d call the company and see what he was able to do. Turns out that the same company that offered the hanging bridges offered the zip lines, and we could do them both if we left RIGHT THEN! Emphasis on the RIGHT THEN! So we booked it and changed our clothes quickly while he called a 4WD taxi, and then we took the taxi up the muddy mountain and into the forest.
• 1:00PM? Hanging Bridges and Zip Lines – We started with the hanging bridges, which was super cool. It was a path through the cloud forest that had eight giant bridges through on above the tree tops. It was awesome. It took a little over an hour to walk the whole thing. I keep using the word “walk”, but make no mistake, there were times we really had to hoof it. We were able to see some more chirp-chirps and chub-chubs, which was fun. And we even saw a monkey! It was very, very cool. 
  
  
  
  

          BUT THEN we suited up for the zip lining, which we were happy about but in a kinda apathetic “ya, I guess this will be cool” kind of a way, AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! One of the coolest adventure activities I’ve done in my life. Up there with the Macau bungee jump, which I love love love. Ken and I went first and second, which is always great. I thought it would mean no waiting, because we were in the front. But it was so well run that nobody waited. I would be surprised if I was on the platforms for more than 45 seconds. There was a person on every platform ready to receive you and send you off. And you were only there as long as it took them to receive you, connect you to the safety wire, unhook you from the previous zip line, hook you to the next one, and tell you to go. Honestly, it probably took about as much time as it just took for you to read that sentence. Very impressively run, which added to the experience because it didn’t detract from the magic. ALSO, with it being so cloudy, you often times couldn’t see the receiving deck, so you felt like you were just going forever. Some of them you went through the trees, others you went over. There were about 13 zip lines in total. Highlights for me were the 800m one where Ken and I got to go together, because I wouldn’t have been heavy enough to get across by myself. 800m!! Did you catch that? That’s a little over half a mile (right?)! This was a super cloudy one and you couldn’t see the receiving station until you were almost there, but you could see all the forest around you. Such a cool experience to share with my favorite guy!! The other highlight was the last zip line. Ken and I opted for the additional $10 option to do a superman harness for the last one – which was 1000m!!! That’s like 5 miles! (Okay, not really, but it felt like it). That was awesome, because we were laying on our tummies, connected to the zip line from our back. Because we were facing down, we couldn’t see the zip line, only the forest passing below you. WE weren’t able to go together, but we did go at the same time on neighboring zip lines. I remember looking back and seeing Ken racing forward like a bullet. My husband is awesome. It was so cool to see the forest passing by below. At points, the clouds were so think that the water stung my face – but it was worth it. I was smiling so big that I drooled all over that rain forest. J It was AWESOME. I’ve never done anything quite like it. Definitely a highlight of the trip so far. Then, soaking wet from spending a day in the clouds, we bussed it back to our hostel.

Another cloud forest picture

• 5:30PM Dinner  and Such -  After showering and changing into clean clothes, we left to do some recon and preparation for the next day. Where our early bus leaves from, grocery shopping, etc. Then we went to Taco Taco AND HAD THE BEST BURRITO I’VE EVER HAD! Maybe it was just because I was starving, but it was really, really good. Slow cooked beef. Super good. Oh my gosh, so good. With a delicious mango salsa. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was delicious. Then we went out for Costa Rican craft beer. We tried two different beers at two different places, and both were underwhelming.
• 8:15PM New Year’s Eve Celebration!! – Here is the moment you’ve been waiting for! But tell me, how did you celebrate New Year’s Eve!!?? You must be saying. Well, I’ll tell you. After a marathon of a day, we packed up and climbed in bed, and we were fast asleep well before 9pm. Not at all what we expected, but exactly what we needed. Happy New Year!!!!

Ken’s Thoughts: Even though the day turned out to be a fully action packed day, it felt really fun and not stressful. I don’t think we could have done Monte Verde any better than we did. The two of us zip lining through the rain forest is something I’ll always remember. It really is a beautiful place, and I feel like anybody who is in Costa Rica who is capable of making it there should make it there, but it is COMPLETELY touristy, so I’m glad we only spent one day. The cloud forest have a really different feel than a normal rain forest because of the constant thick mist – the cloud that is almost always on top of the forest that you’re in. And it gives the place a very surreal feel, only being able to see 100 feet or so into the forest before it disappears into the mist. And even though it’s always completely damp and mildly drizzling on you, you just don’t mind. The mist especially enhanced the zip line experience, ‘cause there are many times that you’re zipping along, and it looks like your line just goes on forever, because you can’t see the start or end of your line. The food in Monte Verde is nothing to write home about, except for the one burrito shop that we found. They were awesome. The local breweries were fun to sample and had a lot of fun ideas, but were ultimately pretty lacking. It’s fun how in Costa Rica there are just dogs running around everywhere, and they’re all super friendly. I really liked the German Shepherd puppy in our hostel. Oh, and the bridges! I really enjoyed walking through the bridges that took your right through the trees in the cloud forest. It allowed you to see a whole new part of the forest really closely that I had never experienced before. I also really enjoyed seeing a few monkeys up there! And with all the mist rolling around, it just felt very picturesque on the bridges. There’s also something really refreshing about the air in a forest that I really enjoy. By the end of the day, I was completely pooped, and had no problem falling asleep at 8:30. Happy New Year. And that’s all my thoughts.

And that brings us to today! We took a bus to a random intersection where we were promised another bus would pick us up – which it did. And now we’ve just passed the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border, and we’re on our way to a port town where we’ll take a boat to a volcano island in the middle of a lake where we plan to spend the next few days. (Most likely with no internet – do don’t be worried when there aren’t any posts for a while).

Congrats on making it through this beast of a post! And Happy New Year!!

P.S. I wrote that all on the bus. Now as I post this, I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Nicaragua. Our phone is charging so that we're able to put money on it, and Ken is out looking for food. Life is good!!!!! Pura Vida. :-)