Although it was nice to spend some time on a beach, we weren’t sad when departing Playa Del Coco. When you are travelling days become utterly irrelevant, so the fact we chose to leave on a Sunday wasn’t of any relevance in our thoughts. But Sundays mean less frequent buses and it can be trickier to find breakfast. We watched as a bus drove right past us, and promptly found out it was an hour wait until the next one-because it is Sunday they run hourly as opposed to on the half hour. *sigh* Then to continue our close mishaps, when we finally arrived at the Liberia bus station, 5 minutes before one was due to depart for Monteverde, but of course it was full and we weren’t permitted to board it. Another hour wait. We instructed the driver that our destination needed to end in Irma so that we could catch a bus to Monteverde. He nodded his head and agreed to let us know where we should get off. The bus stopped a few hours in, Jonny went to query if it was Irma and the driver reassured him we had not arrived there yet. Hayley drifted off to sleep, an extremely rare occurrence for her on bus journeys. She was woken with a start by Jonny, the bus had continued for another hour, he had asked the driver who had forgotten to let us off at Irma-which was in fact 50 minutes previous. He let us off the bus in the middle of no where with all but a gas station in sight and pointed back up the road we had come down, “No problemo, Monteverde autobus”. He then nodded and smiled and as he climbed back on the bus Hayley couldn’t retain her abusive tongue-it’s a good job he didn’t speak English. Angry and frustrated we trudged in the direction he had vaguely waved. Low spirited and with little hope of catching a bus. However our luck was about to turn, as seemingly out of no where a bus turned into the gas station, signed ‘Monteverde’. Our eyes lit up, we attempted to run with our bags, waving frantically and desperately at the driver. Fortunately the bus drivers here do not resemble those at home, who in our experience seem to have great pleasure in driving past anyone chasing their bus. In stark contrast he pulled over prior to the stop, allowing us to get on and even assisting with our bags. The next few hours we drove through windy narrow roads, mostly uphill, observing the beautiful forestry and tropical vegetation, and unexpectedly we saw multiple rainbows trapped in valleys. In this journey alone we counted more rainbows than we had ever seen in our lives.

The bumpy road merged with a small town, we had FINALLY arrived at Monteverde.

Cold, wind and replica english rain simultaneously greeted us, raising the hairs on our exposed skin as we shivered with goosebumps. A row of backpackers in beach clothing (us included) dug through their bags for jumpers and raincoats.

We found shelter at Hostal Toucan, which in a nutshell had nice rooms, hot showers, free breakfast, a kitchen and english speaking staff who were both friendly and helpful. We would definitely recommend this place to fellow travellers. Hayley is one of those humans who is more cold blooded than a snake. Not in a metaphorical way, but very literal. She was shivering, desperately rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them. As soon as we had checked in she jumped into the shower without hesitation, clouded by steam and slowly feeling was returning to her toes. She the proceeded to put on ski thermals and socks before getting into bed underneath 3 layers of duvet.

We had not been warmed about the Monteverde temperatures, but our stories are no exaggeration it is very cold, so backpackers ensure you wrap up and whichever hostel you reside at, hot water is a necessity!

There are loads of activities to do in Monteverde, it’s a town boasting adrenaline and adventure in various forms. There are many treks you can do, sadly we did not have time but we prioritised the activity the town is most famous for; Zip lining.

We were strapped into harnesses by the guides who also mounted the Go Pro on Jonny’s helmet, then asked us “are you ready to die?” before creasing with laughter and wandering off to their next victim. We looked at each other, giddy with excitement as we are both drawn to adrenaline like moths to a flame. There are several companies offering zip lining experiences, but naturally we had opted for the one considered most daring. The highest, longest and fastest zip wires in Monteverde, with added extras of a Repel and the mystery named ‘Tarzan swing’.

After a safety briefing we were climbing trees and before we knew it had completed our first few zip lines. They were short but fast, whipping us from one tree to the next in just a few seconds barely allowing time to notice how high up we were. We won’t bore you in describing them all individually but will highlight our top 3.

1) The first really long one we were permitted to do together. Hayley put her trust in Jonny, as she was attached to his harness with his legs wrapped around her, she was to do nothing, all the control was in his court. We should mention that you have to break yourself and there is somewhat of a technique to it, as breaking too early can result in having to physically pull yourself the rest of the way, however too late and you could slam full pelt into the end of the wire, which would be very painful. The guide pushed us off, Hayley squealed and shrieked with excitement, the wind forced the skin on our faces back causing our eyes to water. We wooped and cheered as we soared over the forest together, our eyes distracted by how far we could see. A 360 degree panoramic view of Costa Rica’s beautiful countryside, usually only viewed by birds.
2) Following our repel we were guided towards the intriguingly named ‘Tarzan Swing’. Before she had time to think, Hayley was on a platform, being strapped on to a tight rope, unwillingly pulling her to the edge she was instructed to jump off. We both consider ourselves daredevils but admittedly Hayley is the one who will sometimes think twice, but knowing all the same that she will do whatever task she has faced herself with because ultimately the adrenaline rush beats the fear every time. She stepped off and was plummeted into a free fall drop for around 4 seconds until the rope slacked and she screamed much louder and longer than you thought someone of her size would be able to. Her lungs must have been aching as the screams continued whilst she swung back and forth as high as the tree tops. During Jonny’s turn it was more of a deliberate ‘WAHOO’ that could be heard as he was thrown back and forth by the rope in the same manner. The name is well suited to the task; Tarzan Swing. A brilliant add on activity for all backpackers with an appetite for adrenaline and extreme adventure.
3) ‘Superman’ is the named Zip line in which you are physically laying down, mimicking that of the character himself in both posture and transport, as he too can fly. Hayley went first out of our group. Instructed to surrender her legs to the guide behind her one at a time, the second more reluctantly as he strapped her in. He then pulled her back as far as the rope would allow and pushed her as hard as he could. Her excited screams became very distant and Jonny was eager for his go. This zip line is another very long one, in which you feel like you’re defying gravity, it feels twice as high as the others. Laughing and screaming, hearts pounding, the wind sucked at our faces and pulled on our hair. We were instructed to keep our arms tucked in to go faster, although at the climactic end, both of us couldn’t resist the generic superman pose of sticking a clenched fist out in front of us. It was exhilarating and we beamed at each other, grins so wide that our jaws were beginning to ache. An enthusiastic high five was exchanged and we were high on adrenaline.

We returned to the hostel giddy, keen to share our experiences with the workers and exchange stories with other backpackers. That evening we took full advantage of the kitchen and opted to cook a home comfort food of ours; pesto pasta loaded with vegetables. It was a great decision, we were at this stage pretty fed up of rice and beans, the novelty had long worn off and we had been craving some ‘real carbs’. Hayley’s new found love of plantain has been mentioned in previous posts and she was desperate to have an attempt at cooking some. This in itself is a revelation as she is not the most domesticated in the kitchen, known for her baking skills, she can bake a cake down to a T, but that more or less summarises her culinary skills. She attempted to fry the plantain and was disappointed with the outcome. Turns out the one we had chosen wasn’t quite ripe enough for the sweetness she was aiming for. Although admittedly it wasn’t a total failure and pretty good first attempt. Instead we mostly spooned the Nutella we had purchased to accompany the plantain, this was a treat mostly for Jonny who is a big fan of the spread.

Upon departing Monteverde we booked a package trip with our hostel which was overall a great deal, it included transport to La Fortuna, a private room in a hotel for one night, afternoon hike asides Volcano Arenal and complete with a relaxing evening at the Hot Springs with dinner included. All this for the sum of $119 US dollars, which on the surface to backpackers sounds like a large sum, however we were wise to do this as it saved us a lot of money and we had a fantastic trip. Check out the next post to read it with details!

Happy travels!

Jonny & Hayley 🙂