I do not think I have been anywhere in the world that has tourism down as well as Costa Rica. Well, maybe Walt Disney World, but that’s a given. It seemed that anywhere we stayed; they had access to a vast array of transportation and attraction options at their fingertips. No matter how close or how far we wanted to travel, they assisted us perfectly. It made traveling throughout the country very easy.

Everyone has certain things they enjoy to do when they travel. We love adventures, seeing critters, beautiful scenery, relaxation and good food.  For the most part, Costa Rica fit the bill in every way, except that good food was a bit of a stretch. After a day of recovering from our 17 hour journey from New York to Costa Rica, by the way of Mexico City, we traveled to the village of Santa Elena, just 20 minutes outside of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.  Our hotel in Alajuela (just 10 minutes from the airport outside of San Jose) booked us a very reasonable private shuttle to Santa Elena. Not only did Eduardo drive the van, but he was also a tour guide with a wealth of knowledge. We learned so much about the area and history during our 4 hour journey up through the mountains. It was an excellent introduction to Costa Rica and perfect timing as it was the beginning of our trip. We even stopped at a roadside café for coffee, fresh tortillas with fried cheese and a blackberry smoothie, and, of course, used their facilities before we drove the last stretch of the long bumpy unpaved road to Santa Elena.

I didn’t know this when I booked it, but Santa Elena is a backpackers haven. The town appeared to have more hostels than hotels and everything a traveler needs including banks, supermarkets, public buses, restaurants, internet, art supplies, bookstore and a drugstore. It’s a little hippy Mecca in the middle of the rainforest. The prices for lodging are considerably less than in the village of Monteverde, that’s why I chose it along with all the other budget travelers.

It is really hard to capture the awesomeness of the cloud forest.

Hazel worked the reception at the Pensión Santa Elena, where we stayed in Santa Elena. She was an awesome concierge. She shared a wealth of information with us so we could pick what trips worked for our family. She did a fantastic job selecting guides for us too. It was the start of our trip, so we decided to go on some guided hikes, to get the lay of the land, see critters, identify the fauna and flora plus learn where to look for the critters. We figured after a guided night hike and day hike we could do the rest on our own.  This plan worked out great for us. Compared to most people we ran into, we saw more than our fair share of critters. We really lucked out with our guides too. During the night hike, our guide, Hector, was great with Mathew, he always made sure Mathew could see the critter he found as well as not lose Mathew in the dark.

Orange Kneed Tarantula we saw on our night hike. He was huge!

Juan Carlos, led our day hike through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, we almost immediately saw a Resplendent Quetzal, several 2-Toed Sloths, another Resplendent Quetzal, a Coatimundi, which came up to us like a squirrel would back home. We also saw an Orange Bellied Trogon  , many different varieties of hummingbirds, one actually sitting on its nest, and interesting flowers such as the Dutchman Shoes, Red Shrimp Flowers, Fern Trees along with a huge Paper Wasp nest, Green Walking Stick and some crazy looking caterpillars.  After a 3 hour hike with Juan Carlos, we set off on our own and actually saw 6 more Resplendent Quetzals, which are apparently rare but not if you sit in front of an avocado tree during their lunch time.

Walking above the canopy in the emergent layer. It was amazing to get a birds eye view. Some bridges were over 180 feet high.

Over 20 years ago, I read about walking through the rainforest canopy on suspension bridges and wanted to do it ever since. The next day we went to Selvatura, where they have 8 suspension bridge crossings through the Monteverde Cloud Forest.   It was better than I ever imagined, at several points we were above the canopy looking down. Although, we only saw a couple birds it was truly magical to experience to have that point of view. In two days, we experienced all layers of the rainforest – the forest floor, the understory, the canopy and emergent layer. Truly, a dream come true, and we were only a couple of days into our adventure.

Walking through the understory.