costa rica travel

We stayed for 5 days in Santa Elena. The Pension Santa Elena was very comfortable and the people traveling through were fun and interesting. We visited the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, which is a several kilometers from Santa Elena. The preserve is on the continental divide - you can see the Golf of Nicoya (Pacific) on one side and the Caribean low lands on the other from the trails in the forest. We saw birds, heard howler monkies and experienced being in what feels like the garden of eden.

Karen and I hiked from the Friends school to the preserve and then we took a 10km hike through the many trails. At the end of the day we were pretty bushed so we sat on our little porch and had a bottle of wine while talking with our neighbors.

The weather was very comfortable for our stay in Santa Elena, it rained a few times, but just light showers. We were caught out in the rain one afternoon but dried off by the time we returned "home".

We made a few meals at the Pension but mostly had our meals at "Sodas", which are small restaruants. The native dishes seem a bit bland, with the exception of seafood. We had grilled fish several times and only once was it not excelent. Breakfasts were often eggs, rice and beans, fresh fruit and coffee.

(note, we are back in the US now, but I will update this site when I can find time to document the rest of our trip and our upcomming plans for travel)

Stay tuned

-jb