From La Fortuna, it was a jeep-boat-jeep ride to reach Santa Elena. Again, I arranged for pick up at the hostel. I love the freedom to not to have a strict itinerary.
The ride to reach Santa Elena / MonteVerde is tedious but totally worth it. The scenery is stunning all along the way.
This area is yet another adventure driven touristy place, but for all valid reasons. We stayed 1.5 days here at a hostel.
First day, we just walked around, enjoyed the local ceviche, tropical fruits, hung out with fellow travelers at the hostel.
And did a night hike at the cloud forest. It was creepy and cool. Totally worth it if you don’t mind spotting snakes, tarantula, and ant colonies in the middle of the night with flash lights.
The following day was pretty packed with Canapy tour in the morning. My first time zip-lining and it was exhilarating to say the least. One of the lines was a mile long and they sent people with a gap in such a way that you actually don’t have anyone around you for a good mile….
For a minute, the idea of harness breaking and death crossed my mind, but once i got into it, it was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.
Right after the Canopy tour, we did horse back riding with the same company. Must say, this experience beat ziplining in matter of seconds, when the horse took off on a gallop for a few miles, and I was holding on to it for my life….
The landscape in the area is mind blowing and eventually the horse must have heard my screaming to slow down, so i can enjoy starring at the mountains.
Next day morning we took a collectivo to San Jose. Next on the itinerary is Corcovado National Park. This flight had to be booked ahead of time.
Also check out: Traveling to Costa Rica with Kids.