Travel Blogs from Santa Elena, Costa Rica
Day 56.
I've been traveling for 56 days now. Almost two months. So I made it past six weeks on my own without running home to Mom. It was a tiny fear I had before setting off on this trip. That I would get bored or something and hence wanted to head home earlier ...
The Cloud Forests of Monteverde and Santa Elena
He Said: Highlights: 1. The Original Canopy Tour 2. The whole Santa Elena/Monteverde experience 3. Mariposa Butterfly Farm 4. The amazing choice of food and accommodations 5. The Cloud Forest 6. Time standing still for us 7. The Roads ...
Monteverde
... but it has been cold) - bliss. Because Costa Rica is far more touristy than its neighbors our options we far more varied. Santa Elena and Monteverde's attraction is the Cloud Forest but, unable to make enough tourist dollars from this, a plethora of ...
The Jerk Chickenīs revenge + eternal rain
... with cascades, bamboo as high a NYC buildings ... We had decided to skip San Jose and head straight to the Cloud Forest of Santa Elena/Monteverde in the north of CR. The 3-hour wait at the San Jose bus stop confirmed our decision with lots ...
A rainy day in Monteverde
Itīs a rainy day in Monteverde. We are hoping the rain dies down so we can go to Santa Elena National Reserve. Other than the rain, we are having a fantastic time in Costa Rica. Pura ...
The day we became TARZAN!!!!!!!
... uneventful until we were 18km and a massive hill away from the town. The place we are actually staying in is called Santa Elena, a town about 3km from Monteverde and with lots more useful amenities. The final 18km of our bus journey was epic!!! We ...
Nebelwald
... mit einer Staerke von 7.2 gar nicht gemerkt. Zu holprig war wohl der Bus in dem wir waehrenddessen sassen. Monteverde / Santa Elena liegt auch im Hochland und war erreichbar, also gings erstmal dahin. Monteverde ist bekannt fuer seine Nebelberge und ...
On my way to the jungle
... in is probably not a problem, but the run ;) Patrick Facts: Taxi from Tranquilo backpackers to the bus terminal C$ 1000.00 Bus from San Jose to Monteverde (Santa Elena) C$ 2200.00 Accommodation at Casa Tranquilo @ USD$ 20.0 for a single room with en-suite ...
What day is this?
... . Its beautiful and very relaxing but also a little wierd. That was yesterday. Today we woke up and grabbed the jeep boat jeep to Santa Elena which is where we are now. So far this is my favorite place. We just got back from canopying which is the zip ...
The Cloud Forest: Hummingbird Central
... (I was behind waiting for Jack and we missed it) but there was definitely a lot of cloud. Today we went to the Santa Elena reserve which was quieter, no feeders this time and we had a guide today. It seems that almost all the guides in this ...
Santa Elena
Cloud forests are well named
Day two in Santa Elena was an easy morning eating the best breakfast burrito in the world from the stand next to the pension. We, and everyone else at our hotel, booked the 1100 am Selvantura Park canopy tour. We started on the suspension bridges, ...
Swarming backpackers and a new favorite sport
... to bring my own coat :) I was on my own for the misty bridge walk and Tarra rejoined me for a hike through the Santa Elena reserve after buying a poncho. We are now back in the sun and relaxing before our "Jeep-Boat-Jeep" (I've seen the ...
Ziplining (in Dutch) and coffee
... om een wat andere dag te hebben. Nu eens niet door het bos lopen maar over het bos zoemen. Zip-lining is erg populair in Costa Rica. Je hangt aan een lijn in een soort harnas en glijdt met een noodvaart door of over het oerwoud. Allebij de jongens hadden ...
Forests in the clouds
... . The bus climbed up the dirty roads into the hills to the home of the cloud forests; the resplendid quetzal and the Costa Ricas ecotourism industry. Monteverde is a strange little community founded by the Quakers in the 50s where they have since put a ...
Ya se van las Mexicanas! Adios Monteverde...
All good things must come to an end. We spent our final hours in Santa Elena and made our 5 hour bus journey back to San Jose. We LOVED Santa ...
Cloud forest
... up in the mountains and it gets cold at night. When I mean cold, that is of course compared to the coasts of Cosat Rica, but still a took out my fleece jacket and scarf again. The second day we went wildlife watching in the cloud forest and were even ...
Cloud forests and zip lines
... ;some of the lushest, diverse and beautiful forests in the world. We arrived mid-afternoon and checked into Pension Santa Elena. This is a proper backpacking hostel, cheap but with good rooms, excellent staff and friendly clientelle. It also has ...
With our heads in the clouds
... common for us to meet people who are only travelling within Costa Rica on vacation. Taking tours is the big thing in Santa Elena (and Monteverde) since this is where they do the zipline tours through the Cloud Forest. All of this is very expensive so ...
Mountain of Green!
... us a map and explained a lot about the area. There are two primary growth cloud forest reserves in the area (Santa Elena and Monteverde) and a secondary growth forest in between them called the Children's Eternal Forest. This was bought with ...
The longest travel day yet
... 2:20 we boarded a bus to Las Juntas 3:20 we arrived in Las Juntas having missed the 3:15 to Monteverde because we needed to stop for gas 5:00 we boarded the 4:45 bus from Las Juntas to Monteverde 7:30 we finally arrived in Santa Elena!!!! What a ...
Monteverde
... was the cloud forest, and the bottom was rain forest. It is warmer and there are more animals like snakes. We then drove to Santa Elena, really small, not nice, but had lunch there in the afternoon. We bought a few bits and pieces in the supermarket for ...
Bosque Nuboso Monteverde.
The day before yesterday we got up early to catch the jeep-boat-jeep to Santa Elena. In the first jeep (actually a minibus) we met a really cool couple: Markelle from Greece and Michael from the USA. They ended up staying in the same hotel as us and even ...
Canopy Tour in Santa Elena and Monteverde
Came down to Santa Elena to check out the Cloud forest and do a Zip line tour of the forest. The ride was long and rough and we had to wait for the bus from about 9:30AM to 4pm when the bus finally arrived and then the road was blocked on the way ...
We made it to Santa Elena!
... down-new van...everyone was patient and in good spirts while we waited for our replacement vehicle (see pictures). Finally in Santa Elena, we were presented with a variety of accomodation options. A little overwhelming at first, we settled for Cabinas El ...
Hey where's our dog?
... blue jeans frogs, that we failed to find in the wild at totuguero and my favourite the glass tree frogs. Day two bought a visit to Santa elena national park for some hiking, trails so much easier than I have been used to lately. Some parts had gravel, we ...
De caballos y caballeros
... previously been cleared to create pasture for cattle, but reforestation efforts began in 1977. Money from tourists visiting the reserve supports Santa Elena High School, while the school helps maintain it. The forest is also home to many of the ...
A Costa Rican Massage
... Arenal volcano without cloud coverage and the further away you get from it the more you realise just how much it dominates the landscape. Santa Elena is the main 'town’ in the Monte Verde area – we are staying at the Pension Santa Elena smack ...
Monteverde
... you have visited on your trip and don't look at them separately. I'm sure that Monteverde to some people would be a picturesque little Costa Rican town but I have already visited places just like it for 1/4 the cost and four times the authenticity. It is ...

