Monteverde

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Trip Start Jun 16, 2008 Previous
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  Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Monday, June 30, 2008

After spending the whole of Sunday travelling on buses we are now in Monte Verde. As there was no direct bus from Puerto Viejo to Monte Verde we had to break our promise and re-trace our three and a half hour route back to San Jose to get a bus from there. This time we made sure we had to spend no time there except for an hour break in between buses, during which I was able to see thirty minutes of the Euro 2008 final, the most I´ve seen since I´ve been away.
A five hour bus ride over, through and round mountains and muddy roads which seemed unfit for a big coach wasn´t particularly enjoyable as I´ve been feeling a bit sick for the last day so the time was spent trying not to (in the words of Gill, our American friend from San Jose) splurge! The hostel here seems nice and I´m glad to have my own bathroom to splurge in now we´re here.
Monday was a really uneventful day that we spent lounging around the hostel not doing much except going to the restaurant we went to the previous night (´The Treehouse´ which has a fully grown tree in the middle of the restaurant) for a drink

Natasha at computer

. In the evening we ate the pasta meal that Ellie and Rachael made (Rachael claims to have cooked but I think she just supervised) and got to know a few people staying in the hostel, including a Spurs fan who used to stand on the shelf (I told him about my roots!) and a typically drunken Irishman who we had the same conversation with twice - it reminded me of talking to granny! Earlier in the day we had booked to go zip-lining above canopes in the cloud forest and, knowing that photos are taken whilst you do it, we headed into town and all of us except Natasha (who decided to be a slave to fashion) purchased the most garish, disgusting brown tye-dye T-shirts we could find!
Tuesday was a day packed full of fun and adventure. In the morning we went zip-lining across canopies and had a go on a crazy tarzan swing. Everyone dared take on the challenge but none of us managed to do it without screaming/shouting/swearing! Though credit must go to Rachael for giving a "wooo" the second time she swung back, pretending she was enjoying the swing, having previously squealed like a baby pig.
The afternoon was spent taking a three hour horse ride through coffee plantations. Although I didn´t think I´d enjoy it, it was really good (one of our best excursions so far) and our guide taught us how to gallop which we ended up doing quite a bit.  My horse was called Malboro and in an attempt to stay on the horse whilst galloping I discarded the whip that the guide gave me so that I had all my gripping power available. Unfortunately Malboro decided to take full advantage of the free-reign I gave him, choosing his own trail at one point and fighting with Ellie´s horse constantly including one point where he took a bite at her horse. Ellie´s horse had the last laugh however, managing to shit on my right foot as we tried to storm ahead in a tight spot of forest.
The evening was spent drinking wine before we took a taxi to a bar where one of zip-lining instructors from earlier in the day was performing a gig on his guitar. Thankfully we arrived at the end of his set and were quickly able to escape downstairs to get some dinner. We are getting a jeep-boat-jeep to Arenal next having completed our stay in Monteverde...

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Oli

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