Costa Rica - Four Days and Five Nights on the Green Mountain!

 As is now policy if possible, a holiday for Lisa's birthday was arranged and while New Orleans was on the radar (loved it last year, short flight, English spoken), this year our destination ended up being Costa Rica as we were able to book flights on points! 

We opted for a week in country, arriving late at night and staying at the airport hotel and leaving early in the morning, facilitating another night at the airport hotel, with five amazing nights at El Sol near Monteverde! 

The flight down was on Rouge with five and a half hours of uneventful travel and us opting for boxed dinners from home (sandwiches and other cold snacks) rather than take the risk with airplane food. 

The next morning after a short adventure finding our rental car we were on the road before noon and off on the three hour drive to Monteverde. 

We arrived in the mid afternoon and checked in at El Sol before heading in to the nearby town of Santa Elena. 

Our cabin at El Sol was amazing! Down a gravel path from the parking lot to a secluded spot, the cabin consisted of a large bedroom and kitchenette, a wonderful bathroom with a shower that had views down the valley and a deck with a small hot-tup and large netting from which to relax and enjoy the view and the sunset.

The town of Santa Elena is about a half hour drive down a road of variable quality, with some parts fully paved and lit while other patches were gravel bathed in darkness (of course much more relevant at night).

We parked in one side of the triangle that makes up the three main roads of the downtown and wandered about a bit and after a little provisioning it was back to El Sol for dinner and relaxation. 

Dinner the first night was steak at the cabin, cooked by the young owner Javier. We had asked for a large salad and he did not disappoint. 

We watched the sun set, sipped wine spritzers and listened to the jungle before it was time for bed with a little TV first.

The next day was our first full day in Monteverde and we awoke to a blue sky, a green vista and a full sun. 

After a wonderful breakfast in bed (sausage and egg for Lisa, egg and bean like the locals for Ctos), we lazed about a bit enjoying the space, Lisa particularly loving the giant hammock off the deck, before heading into town for a bit of sight seeing.

This time we went past "downtown" and visited a local coffee shop, Stella's, a bit further down the road. The coffee was excellent (far better than the drip coffee at our cabin) and the setting very pleasant. 

After that it was off by foot to the adjacent Bat Jungle for the short but well worth the US$5 each visit. 

Where else can one listen through ears to hear like a bat and see so many bats up close from behind glass in the darkened bat cavern? 

We were treated to the bizarre but wonderful experience of watching an upside down bat relieve itself via two successive giant arcs of projected waste product! 

Then it was off to the local brew pub for lunch and a sampler of the local beers. All quite palatable and Ctos considered a beer shirt purchase before being reminded by Lisa that he has far too many t-shirts already. 

While out driving we saw a group of excited tourists by the road who were watching some capuchin monkeys in the trees. We stopped and excitedly watched them too. 

We made it back to El Sol in the late afternoon for a little relaxation and a wonderful sunset before a 7:30PM dinner at a local hot spot whose name escapes me. 

Dinner was mediocre and expensive. A tour group had been seated just prior to our arrival and we were overlooked for most of the evening. Ah well, they can't all be winners. Then it was back to El Sol for a nightcap and some deck TV before bed.

For our second full day we had a morning tour scheduled at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve so we were up early and at the meeting point by 9AM. We were both excited to be there and well prepared with binoculars and rain jackets. After meeting our guide and a few other tourists off we went for the two and a half hour tour. While it was enjoyable, we barely saw any wildlife other than a Tarantula that had been living in the same cave for several years and a Blue Throated Toucanet high in a tree. 

It was a walk through a wonderful locale in a light rain and we stopped often for our guide to extol the virtues of the Costa Rican approach to environmental stewardship while describing a local plant or tree.

After the tour we went to the local cafe just outside the Reserve for a refreshment and where a hummingbird area has been set-up with feeders to attract them. 

Very cool with masses of different kinds of hummingbirds darting too and fro. We also spotted what appeared to be a kinkajou as it darted off into the woods. 

After the refreshments the tour was done but Lisa and I were not so we headed back into the reserve for a wander along the various trails for a few hours. 

We didn't see much wildlife but we love a wilderness wander and the forest itself is beautiful. By mid afternoon it was time to head back to El Sol with a brief stop to provision. 

This evening we ventured into town to another restaurant, "Morpho's" which was decent local fare if unexciting. Food options in Santa Elena are limited.  

After dinner and the drive back to El Sol, we spent some time on the deck watching a little TV on the laptop and once more enjoying late night wine spritzers before bed.

Our third full day started with another glorious breakfast in bed looking down the valley which led to us taking it easy for much of the day relaxing at El Sol. 

A brief drive into town to get bread and good coffee from Stella's where we saw a lovely motmot as well as visits to local artisans (we bought nothing) ensued but we were back at El Sol by mid-afternoon and otherwise it was very low key day. 

For the evening we opted for a 6pm to 8pm "Night Walk" through another Reserve on the mountain. We arrived to find that it was a very busy affair with several five or more tourists in a group led by a local guide. Unfortunately, our group was us and a family from France so our guide, while bilingual, tended to explain in many words of French and few of English. We muddled through.

Nonetheless it was a wonderful evening walk through the woods with the highlight being the sighting of a sloth and her baby moving through the forest canopy.  

We made it back to El Sol around 8:30pm for a lovely chicken dinner prepared by Javier. Our best meals at Monteverde definitely came from El Sol's kitchen. 

Our fourth and final full day had absolutely glorious weather and after another wonderful breakfast (this time pancakes for Ctos) we decided to visit the Curicancha Reserve during the late morning and afternoon for a long unguided stroll along its various paths. This day was our best for animal spotting with an encounter with a group of white nosed coati at the park entrance!

During our three hour wander through the park we saw quite a few birds including more lovely blue motmots, a glimpse of a large crested guan and another toucanet, this one less than 2 metres away!

By 3PM we were back at El Sol and ready for more relaxation. We were gifted with a wonderful afternoon (shorts and t-shirts, well in our case mumus) and an amazing sunset shortly before dinner served again by Javier (back to steak and salad). 

The next day was the day of departure but after another amazing breakfast we lingered until early afternoon, with Javier's permission as he had no turnover that day, enjoying more beautiful weather before hopping in the car for the three hour drive to the capital, San Jose. 

We arrived in the early afternoon and after dropping the car off and checking in to the  airport Hilton, we wandered to the Alajuela neighbourhood nearby where we stopped for a lovely late lunch of octopus and tuna carpaccio and mixed seafood ceviche. 

The seafood was amazing and we decided to come back for dinner in a few hours. On the twenty minute walk back to the Hilton, we provisioned some lovely bananas for the next day's flight at a cost of a dime each! 

After a rest, we strolled back to the seafood restaurant for dinner and as there was only one other table taken it was quite a romantic atmosphere. We both opted for octopus (done different ways) and it was freshly delicious! Our only regret was we could not eat more! 

After a nightcap at a practically deserted local bar we made it back to the hotel for a good night's sleep prior to our 9AM flight back to Toronto.

We loved Costa Rica and El Sol was truly amazing but the overall pricing in country was expensive and the food at Monteverde was lacking.