Monteverde: 5th - 8th November 2025
5th November – Wednesday
I was up early this morning, packed and on the shuttle bus to Santa Elena (Monteverde) by 8am. The journey was good, we had to pick up more passengers, so it took a while to get to the point on Lake Arenal where we got the ferry. It wasn’t a port or pier, just a place on the lake where cars and ferries can easily meet. We travelled down the lake for quite some time before heading over to the opposite bank where we docked, again it wasn’t anything bar a point to board/disembark. I really enjoyed the ferry, especially after the captain left the wheel (!) to roll up the plastic sides, obviously there to keep the rain out. It was really peaceful and calm and very scenic.
Lake Arenal is Costa Rica’ largest lake. It is a man-made lake created for hydro-electric power. There is a dam, that I’ve had the pleasure of traversing several times as it forms part of the road. Due to the lake being owned by the electric company there are no developments on the banks, so it is rich in biodiversity and very beautiful.
Our original shuttle stayed the side of the lake where it dropped us off and we got on a different one when we disembarked. The journey to the hostel took just under two hours including a 15 minute stop for the loo and coffee. OMG, the road was so full of pot holes, literally the whole way, it made the journey really uncomfortable and so slow. I am not sure how I managed to doze off, especially as I was enjoying looking at the rolling hills, but I did and woke just in time to see the first passenger dropped off at his hotel. I was the second drop off and to be honest I was horrified when I the location of the hostel. It was down what looked like a dirt road and surrounded building yards.
However, after going for a walk it is not as bad as it first appears, yes it is surrounded by building yards, but there are also some residential houses and the road is stony rather than mud. Santa Elena is on a hill, unlike La Fortuna, which is flat. I didn’t walk for long as it was hard going but I did have a
quick look around town. It is very touristy, however not as bad as La Fortuna, this town has a more character to it and feels more ‘genuine’. I’ll have a proper investigation tomorrow.
On the way back to the hostel I popped into the local supermarket and bought a few bits and bobs. Then I spent the late afternoon on my website. It is now virus free and I have a backup system set up that covers both of my sites. I spoke to a technician and she said it was fine to run two websites from the same database if they are similar sites, which they are. However. she did tell me that it would be better to separate them, I’ll have a go at doing this myself, if I mess up my sites I can restore them from the back up. But first I need to resolve the issues I came across and then concentrate on getting up to date, I must be about 5-6 weeks behind now, it’s going to take a while.
6th November – Thursday
Today was quite chilled. In the morning I went for a walk, up and down hills, to the Ficus Root Bridge, otherwise know as the Ficus La Raiz. It was $2 to view but there was no one there to take my money so I had a free viewing. The trail to the tree was short and easy, just down a few mud steps with wooden risers, but I was quite concerned because if I slipped no one knew I was down there, so I took it slowly. The tree, which is 40 meters high, was amazing, it was the other side of a stream and the roots had grown across the steam to form a bridge to viewing side. Only a brave sole would cross over it. The roots had also grown down into and along the stream. There wasn’t anything else to do there so I only stayed for about 15 minutes before hiking back into town.
Before heading to my hostel I stopped at a bar called Taco Taco. I didn’t ask to see the menu and just ordered beer. OMG, never again, next time I will check out the menu first, the beer cost $5! First and last time I go to Taco Taco. I was so shocked that after I paid the bill I sat on a bench just outside of the bar and wrote a review on G maps and posted a picture of the bill – a warning to other travellers on a budget, avoid Taco Taco.
I didn’t do much else in the afternoon. I tried to add to my website but realised I didn’t have any software to reduce the size of my photos. It took hours to find something that was free and I was happy to use. But I’m all set up now and ready to post again.
7th November – Friday
The first night here was so cold that, even with a blanket, I had to sleep with socks on. So yesterday I asked for another blanket and it made all the difference. I was warm and cozzie, but getting up to go to the loo was not nice – it was so cold. I haven’t felt this cold in months, possibly years!
Yesterday afternoon I booked myself on the Night Walk for today and the Monteverde Cloud Forest hike for tomorrow. So today I just lulled around the hostel, washed my leggings in the hope that they will dry for tomorrow, which I doubt very much as I hung them outside all day with no effect and I know they wont dry in the cold of this room. I also died my hair – 10 years younger again – and booked myself a few days at Jaco beach and another few days in San Jose, the capitol. From there I plan to go to the Caribbean side of Cosa Rica.
After my two cancelled night walks in La Fortuna, I didn’t have my hopes up for this one, but it happened. I also didn’t think many people would be on it, but I was wrong. There were several people from this hostel went, including a couple of guys I got talking to yesterday, and when we arrived at Kinkajou, there were lots of other people from other hostels and hotels.
Typically it was dry all day, then at about 4pm it started to drizzle, by the time we got to the walk it was pouring down. Luckily I still have the purple mac that I bought in Mexico so I managed to stay relatively day, but my trainers are damp on the inside and the bottom of my trousers are soaking wet. I think I’ll have to wear shorts on my hike tomorrow – let’s hope it’s a dry and warm day.
The night walk was fantastic, it was on a privately owned plot of land in the forest with dedicated pathways which the tour guide lead us down. We were given flash lights which was a god send as the route had hundreds of tree roots waiting to trip you over, not to mention the puddles I did my best to avoid. Our guide, there were 5 of us with her, was called Daniela, and she was so informative but for the life of me I can’t remember much of what she told us as I couldn’t focus. My glasses were constantly covered in rain and kept steaming up. We didn’t see as many animals as I hoped we would, but I think that was down to the weather. However we did see a couple of birds that were asleep, birds sleep with their heads tucked under their wings so we only saw their bodies. One looked like a mango and another was blue with a really long tail. We also saw a few scorpions, Daniel put a UV light on them so they glowed green in the dark. We saw a beautiful lime green viper snake, it wasn’t very big but it was very vibrant. Daniela said these snakes are very friendly, luckily it wasn’t close enough to find out. We also saw an orange kneed tarantula, it was a female and humongous, and so were the daddy long legs we
saw. These, unlike the one in the UK have two very long legs/antennas that they use for sensing their surroundings. We didn’t see any skunks but we certainly smelt them and unfortunately we didn’t see any sloths, but we did spend ages looking for them. The only real disappointment was the lack of frogs, we were all hoping to see some beautifully coloured ones but we only saw two brown ones – such is life.
I am now tucked up in bed, cozzie, warm and dry, under my two blankets. The bathroom is freezing but at least the rain has stopped. I am being picked up at 7am tomorrow morning so I think I better turn the light out and try to get some shut eye.
8th November – Saturday
This morning was fantastic but I was so tired. I kept waking up every hour last night so when the alarm went off at 6 am I really just wanted to roll over and sleep some more. But up I got and it was worth it. Jovia, who was going to be my guide turned up ½ an hour late, which annoyed me because I could have eaten my boiled eggs in that time but resisted in case he came half way through a mouthful, I asked if I could eat then in the van but he said no. However he was very chatty which was nice and helped pass the time to the Cloud forest. In the end he was not my guide, he went with the Spanish speaking people and I had Marcos, all to myself. Marcos was really lovely to begin with and informed me of so much about the forest and the plants. We spent about 20 minutes looking for a Quetzal bird, which is the national bird of Guatemala, but due to climate change is now a permanent resident of Costa Rica. We did eventually see the back of a male and then without notice Marcos took off and I had to almost run to keep up. We went for about 5 minutes and then stopped, there was another Quetzal, again male, but this one was posing for us and I got some really good pictures and an awesome video of this beautiful blue red and white bird.
The only other animal we saw that I have not seen here before was a fruit bat asleep on a tree next to lots of mushrooms. Unfortunately we could not get a good picture of it, but I was not bothered as I have seen millions of bats in Cambodia. Actually that is not quite true because at the end of the tour we went to the humming bird house. It was outdoors, an area with lots of bird feeders, obviously containing humming birds favourite food as there must have been a good dozen of then flying around and feeding on the nectar. They were so beautiful, especially the really large purple one. But it was hard to get a good picture or video and they move so fast and don’t stay in one place for long. We also saw a beautiful green caterpillar that had strange white pine like ends to it, as well as a butterfly cocoon, and several varieties of orchid, some of which were really small, but all were stunning.
When I got back I had a nap, I was hoping for a good two hours but my phone kept beeping. Today was the walk to celebrate my aunt Nessa’s life. They had a beautiful dry winters day and it looked like everyone enjoyed the celebration and did Nessa proud. I was sad not to be able to go but Titus and Tina went, although they had to leave early as T had to go to Colchester to celebrate the life of his mate Eliot – so sad.
Late this afternoon I went for a very short walk to a Soda and got an early dinner. I then bought some fruit for breakfast and a beer for now. For the rest of the evening I am going to chill and do some work on my website. I’m very much looking forward to going to Jaco and the beach tomorrow and hope it is a lot dryer and warmer than here.