August 13, 2013 / La Fortuna → Monteverde

Aug 13th – my 50th birthday! The adventure started with an interesting transfer from La Fortuna to Monteverde. A jeep took us from our hotel to the shores of Lake Arenal. Notice I mention the shores, not a dock. We trekked down some 50 feet to the spot where the boats were, loaded our luggage and cruised across the lake. Arenal Volcano was receding from our vision, presenting yet another unique face to us as we bid it good bye.

All along, from San Jose – La Fortuna – Cano Negro, we had excellent roads. I had commented on this to Carlos, who said I should reserve my comments until I reached Monteverde. Our boat pulled onto the shore on Monteverde side and we hopped into another jeep. It was dirt roads that greeted us and I was hoping that somewhere along the way, it would become blacktop roads – not to be. We spent the next 1 ½ hours on completely rough dirt roads traveling no more than 40 kmph. Until we reached the town of Santa Elena, barely couple of kilometers from our hotel, the roads were rough. This travel was by far the longest stretch of travel in a dirt road that I’d done in all 50 years!

A family cabin with 3 bedrooms and fully furnished kitchen nestled in the cloud forests awaited us in Cabanas Los Pinos hotel. The girls just loved the fact that they got their own rooms! We had carried some Haldiram fast food items, especially for this leg of the trip. We made a lunch meal out of chole & tortilla before heading out to Santa Elena.

Santa Elena was a quaint little town with lots of ups and downs, exercising our calf muscles well. Monteverde region is in the cloud forests – true to its name, the clouds descended upon us and it rained for a while with very little warning. The girls weren’t taking to the location until we reached the town and saw some activity; and they got to pick their favorite dinner that night. Sushi for Kavya and Panini for Jana. And Jaya had a wonderful coffee on the way back. We picked up a small banana cake that I cut later that evening celebrating my 50th!