Pura Vida: From Cloud Forests to Salsa Brava

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
Maya Angelou

Here’s the final chapter of the trip, after going down the Pacific Coast, exploring the wild Osa Peninsula, we’ll be going from the highlands of Monteverde, all the way to Puerto Viejo in the Caribbean.

After spending 5 days in the Costal tropical heat, it was a very nice change to go up in the mountains, to visit the magnificent Cloud forests of Monteverde. The temperature drops and it drizzles at least once a day. You can see quite a lot of birds in this part of the country, including the elusive resplendent Quetzal which we did not see, but we saw a lot of other gorgeous birds.

We did some zip lining through the clouds which was a lot of fun.

We also a night walk which is pretty incredible as we saw a sloth, scorpion, sleeping birds and even a Kinkajou which I did not know what it was prior to the visit. It is a little yellow mammal, sometimes called a “honey bear”, similar to a raccoon.

I really enjoyed Monteverde. The town itself feels like a little mountain town, and the surrounding forests have a very mysterious feeling.

After Monteverde, we make our way to the Arenal area via a combination of bus + boat on the Arenal lake + another bus. We reach the nice little town of La Fortuna. The Arenal Volcano which last erupted in 2010, is in the background. The town is surrounded by beautiful rainforest, and thermal hot springs. It is quite nice place to stay. Being one of the most visited areas of the countries, there are lots of options for good food and entertainment.

We walk around town and check out a local chocolate factory which is really delicious. We go on a tour of the volcano, check out a beautiful waterfall, hike through the forest and check out two different hot springs, one is completely wild (just a hot river), the other is very nice resort-type place where they’ve built really nice pools, waterfalls and bridges.

We end up seeing a Toucan, several other types of birds, and a very scary looking snake.

I find out about a really cool way to transfer from La Fortuna to the town of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We can book a white water rafting with a company that will pick us up at our Hostel, serve us breakfast, take us rafting and then drop us off in Puerto Viejo. It sounds much nicer than taking a direct or combination of buses!

The Rio Pacuare is listed in all sorts of Top 10 lists for best White Water rafting rivers in the World, and the Rafting World championship was hosted here back in 2011. It was definitely an incredible experience going down that river with rapids up to Class 4. We did it with a company called Exploradores Outdoors. I can highly recommend them as they were very professional. No particular with rapids needed, especially when it is not the rainy season. The water level was on the lower side and it was still very exciting. I could see why when it is the rainy season and the water is high, the rapids must become really insane!

For our final days in Costa Rica, there was no better way to spend a couple on the Caribbean side of the country, in the enchanting town of Puerto Viejo de Talamenca. The vibe and culture is completely different, and it is really worth coming out here. It was definitely one of my favorite areas for beach life. The beaches are pristine and very wild, and the town is full of low-key very fun bars and restaurants. We had some of the best chicken I’ve ever tasted in my life.

The area is also famous for a very long wave called the Salsa Brava.

We did a long walk from Manzanillo park all the way back to Puerto Viejo, going through a dozen or so beaches, each more beautiful than the next. Our favorite was possibly Playa Punta Uva Arrecife where I also went snorkeling.

The area is also bursting with wildlife and we end up seeing several sloths in the trees above our really nice bed and breakfast, and one of the beaches we stayed at.

This is the end of the journey. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!