As soon as we arrived in Monte Verde I could feel the temperature drop. It is a cloud forest which is at higher elevation up in the mountains. When we stopped to take a few pictures my breath was completely taken away by the beauty of this place.
Arriving in Monte Verde
Our first stop was to a coffee and coaco farm. I’ve been to coffee farms before but it is still an interesting process to see how the products are made and the scenery on the farm was absolutely stunning. It’s also great to see how much pride the people who work on the farm have in their jobs. The best part though, was taking shots of moonshine made on the farm! It tasted like pure rubbing alcohol and the faces we made while drinking it were not pretty. The ox were cool too!
Coffee!
Oxen ready to give us a ride.
Tractor on the coffee farm.
The first evening in Monte Verde was spent on a night hike. It was creepy and fun to roam the dense forest at night. We saw some wildlife but most of it was very far away and hard to see. The coolest thing we got to see up close was a big furry tarantula. It was so creepy that it was almost cute.
Tarantula!
The town of Monte Verde is pretty small and really cute. I was again pleasantly surprised at how few tourists I’ve seen. There was an adorable restaurant called The Treehouse where you can sit under actual trees, where we had dinner and listened to some pretty bad live music, but still had a blast singing along.
Early the next morning we did a hike through the Santa Elena Cloud forest. The forest was absolutely gorgeous and stunning, but to be honest, at this point I was ready to just walk through and admire the beauty then hear about every type of plant and critter to be found. The tour may have been boring but the scenery did not disappoint.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest
Huge tree roots
If we were a little bit bored on the hike it didn’t last for long because our next stop was zip-lining. Our entire group decided to go. I’ve never been before and I think my heart is still beating faster from the experience. It was fabulous and terrifying. Monte Verde is known for having some of the best and longest zip lines in all of Central America.
Ready for ziplining!
On about the third or forth line my glove went flying off. They checked all the equipment so carefully but never made sure my gloves fit. I assumed they only had one size: HUGE! I have tiny hands and the gloves just wouldn’t stay on. Luckily my g adventures guide was awesome and let me use hers.
On the last two zip lines you could go superman style, face first. It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done but it was also incredibly beautiful.
The view from ziplining!
If you are looking for an adrenaline rush, I think you will be hard presses to fine something as great as zipping through the cloud forest.
“Faster” -Matt Nathanson
Julie's Many Miles 