Quepos to Monteverde (“Green Mountain”)

Awake early again and enjoyed a final coffee on the veranda, this morning listening to the howler monkeys grunts echoing across the valley from a nearby canopy, and watching the birds and dragon flies darting by. Finally saw wild Toucans (like the Macaws in a pair) swooping across then landing in a nearby tree, their striking yellow beaks and “skwawks” setting them apart from the other birds.

As usual we were too busy faffing and relaxing, had a late breakfast and quick pack up and check out, before making the 10 minute dash to the marina for our snorkel trip. We were a little late, but 2 kind locals helped make a call to our tour guide, and we eventually found the boat “Camikane” (after skulking past 3 large iguanas seemingly guarding the bridge down onto the docks).

We were swiftly given our flippers and equipment, and on our way across the water (admiring a huge flock of pelicans en route).
We had 2 snorkel spots, the first housing many more blue and yellow striped fish/larger black flat fish; the second more urchins/ blue fish with red speckles, and a jellyfish. Visibility was quite poor, apparently due to the recent rain showers, but still an enjoyable couple of hours.

It was then a 3.5 hour drive up to Monteverde, our final national park of the trip. Stopped for fuel and Costa Rican Cornetto, then continued up the coast, before weaving inland and meeting some rainfall. The last 20km were very windy roads but overall in much better condition than those between La Fortuna and Jacó.
As we climbed higher and higher, we were met with blue sky, random mountain dogs, cooler weather, and the first panoramic cloud drenched hills. This was captured quite well in todays’s video, as well as the signature “saggy neck cows”.

Our accommodation for the next 2 nights “Rustic Tree House” was tricky to find, but we eventually negotiated the bumpy road, through the gates and were shown inside. A beautiful, cosy apartment with everything we need.

After some down time we braved the storm (albeit only for 5 minutes) and went out for a lovely tea at one of the oldest restaurants in Monteverde, restaurant Delucaia, established over 20 years ago. We enjoyed local food and drinks (I cant get enough of the sweet glazed baked plantain).
Back to the tree house for some quizzing before bed… hopefully the storm will pass by tomorrow (and our little tree house won’t blow away!)Read more