Costa Rica: Monteverde

A gum fruit

Transportation: Although on a map Arenal is a straight shot, no more than 60 km away from Monteverde, the road is long, windy, and took about 8 hours. The last 30 km took 3 hours to give you some insight to the condition and steepness of the road.

Hostel: We stayed at Cabinas al Golfo for $8.00/night. I highly recommend this place. One wall is all windows connected to a large deck looking over the cloud forest. Since you're up so high in elevation, the clouds whip through the valley bringing rain, sun, wind, and rainbows all in an hour. The hostel had a nice open kitchen and sitting area with bean bags. They also did continental breakfast with cereal! (It's the little things that count)

Monte Verde National Park: Usually there are buses to transport you to the entrance but it was Sunday (we came to learn you can't expect anything to be done on Sunday) so we walked. We paid $9.00 (student price) to get into the park. We didn't see many animals but saw howler monkeys, millipedes, and a pizote along with very strange fruit which Tom and I poked at with a knife (and nibbled - one tasting very good, one tasting... like a plant). The hike reminded me a lot of Oregon. Where there is green on the pathways, green moss on the trees and there are plants that grow on plants that grow on plants. GREEN EVERYWHERE. We got to hike over the continental divide which was a nice little accomplishment. Overall the day was a 15 mile hike. We were tired but it was awesome.