Monteverde or Green Mountain
We took a little trip. Between Jim's surgery, my asthma and all the work on the house we decided to get away for a few days. Somewhere beautiful where we could sit out in a garden and just read. I suggested Arenal,and our friend's hotel. Jim wanted to try Monteverde, somewhere we'd not been. Not far from Arenal.
And yet an extreme world away. Monteverde was beautiful, but I was reminded of the worst of West Virginia. The roads were awful. Dirt and rock, rain and fog. We could not see a foot in front of the car. So we crawled along as 20 mph. Driving in Costa Rica is so so so damn slow even when the road is paved.
I figured I might be in for some rough roads, but not like this. Back during Hurricane Nate the roads of Monteverde were washed away. The town was cut off for a couple of weeks. It took a good hour to go 20 miles.
It reminded me of West Virginia because of the remote nature of the mountains and lack of all people. I was surprised because I knew this was a high tourist area. Lots of Americans. Once we rounded a curve and I saw we were driving along a road stuck between two deep valleys shrouded with fog.
The hotel was lovely, and the meals very nice indeed. I have learned that when I go online and pick a hotel it's best not to pick the cheapest, or some name brand. I look for things that we want, like a beautiful large garden with flowers and trickling fountains. Places to sit and read outside.
Sadly it didn't matter in the end. It rained the entire time. No sitting outside in the large European garden. The thin air on top of the mountain meant I could not breath. Combined with the damp and moldiness of everything my asthma went nuts. Lots of laying around. Also in my driving I'd thrown out my back. I guess it was because the roads were like what my late father used to say 'a drunk contractor following a snake through the woods.'
I keep forgetting I don't do well at high altitudes or in damp rainy environments.
We did take a tour for the Don Juan plantation and that was actually very nice. On the bus up there was a wizened elderly man on the bus. Turned out he was the owner, and he enthusiastically went from person to person, hugging us all. Another thing about Costa Rica I had to adjust to, the tendency of people to hug and kiss their friends.
We got to see and experience how chocolate is harvested and made, how sugar cane is processed and all aspects of coffee growing and processing. By the end we'd made a handful of new Tico friends. Loved the tour!
Most of the tours in the area are the standard zipline, cloud forest hiking that are featured just about everywhere. I didn't get to take the orchid garden tour, but there are several of those in various parts of the country. Jim got a massage and I shopped at the Quaker cheese factory in town. But we were happy to come back to our nice warm beach town, and sleep in our own waterbed again.
And yet an extreme world away. Monteverde was beautiful, but I was reminded of the worst of West Virginia. The roads were awful. Dirt and rock, rain and fog. We could not see a foot in front of the car. So we crawled along as 20 mph. Driving in Costa Rica is so so so damn slow even when the road is paved.
I figured I might be in for some rough roads, but not like this. Back during Hurricane Nate the roads of Monteverde were washed away. The town was cut off for a couple of weeks. It took a good hour to go 20 miles.
It reminded me of West Virginia because of the remote nature of the mountains and lack of all people. I was surprised because I knew this was a high tourist area. Lots of Americans. Once we rounded a curve and I saw we were driving along a road stuck between two deep valleys shrouded with fog.
The hotel was lovely, and the meals very nice indeed. I have learned that when I go online and pick a hotel it's best not to pick the cheapest, or some name brand. I look for things that we want, like a beautiful large garden with flowers and trickling fountains. Places to sit and read outside.
Sadly it didn't matter in the end. It rained the entire time. No sitting outside in the large European garden. The thin air on top of the mountain meant I could not breath. Combined with the damp and moldiness of everything my asthma went nuts. Lots of laying around. Also in my driving I'd thrown out my back. I guess it was because the roads were like what my late father used to say 'a drunk contractor following a snake through the woods.'
I keep forgetting I don't do well at high altitudes or in damp rainy environments.
We did take a tour for the Don Juan plantation and that was actually very nice. On the bus up there was a wizened elderly man on the bus. Turned out he was the owner, and he enthusiastically went from person to person, hugging us all. Another thing about Costa Rica I had to adjust to, the tendency of people to hug and kiss their friends.
We got to see and experience how chocolate is harvested and made, how sugar cane is processed and all aspects of coffee growing and processing. By the end we'd made a handful of new Tico friends. Loved the tour!
Most of the tours in the area are the standard zipline, cloud forest hiking that are featured just about everywhere. I didn't get to take the orchid garden tour, but there are several of those in various parts of the country. Jim got a massage and I shopped at the Quaker cheese factory in town. But we were happy to come back to our nice warm beach town, and sleep in our own waterbed again.
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