#49 | Selvatura Park, Costa Rica

During the afternoon of our stay in Monteverde, Aashna and I decided to spend a couple of hours at Selvatura Park in Monteverde to walk the trails and experience the hanging bridges. The bridges vary from 50m to 170m in length and 12m to 60m off the ground. I'm afraid of heights but this couldn't be missed as the views were absolutely amazing. On the beginning of the walk we received beautiful weather and saw monkeys climbing up trees and across some of the suspension bridges. Once we had walked 3/4 through the park the mist approached us with looked really cool as we stood on the high ground. At the moment, I remember saying "I can't believe it hasn't rained today." and to my surprise we got poured on. We came prepared but many others did not, I'd recommend a fully waterproof (not water resistant) jacket for your stay in Costa Rica especially if you plan on visiting the rain forests.

 

A couple of places we enjoyed stopping at during our stay were Taco Taco Taqueria for a bite, Tree House for live music, drinks and dessert and Beso Espresso & Roasters for an afternoon pick me up. Next up on our trip was Manuel Antonio!

Yours Truly

#48 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

Our shuttle dropped us off directly at our bed and breakfast, Camino Verde. We were greeted with hospitality by the owner and his family with a coffee and a 'Pura Vida'. Once we had checked into our space, we went to the front desk to ask questions about tours and activities around the area for the following day. We decided to go with a tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest and transportation to the hanging bridges.

To give you a bit of information on Monteverde, it is a town known for being near a cloud forest. Cloud forests are quite unique because of the low-level of clouds that I believe are formed from the effects of wind and moisture from both the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans that are met at the high regions of the forest. The specific forest nearing the town is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve which is protected to preserve the lives of different wildlife. We were recommended to check out this area of Costa Rica by some close friends of ours and it certainly did not disappoint.

The tour of the cloud forest began at 8am the next morning where we and another couple were picked up and driven about 30 minutes to the entrance of the park. Generally the park officials will select a path for you but because it was low season our tour guide took us to his favourite route which included a waterfall at the very end. Our guide was a local to the area and took courses before he began working which was proven as he provided us with facts, spotted creatures with his telescope and gave us the history of Monteverde, without him it may have just felt like a regular walk. For me it was a refresher on the biology classes I took in high school as he grilled us on our previous knowledge. We saw many different birds, plants and creatures that were specific to this region of the world (we even saw a dead tarantula in a hollowed out tree) and the tour itself felt like a private tour. 

Once we made it back to the entrance of the park we headed to the hummingbird garden. They feed the birds here and it can honestly be quite scary when these birds fly right past your face. It was also difficult to take photos of them because of their speed and quick change of direction but it was really cool to get so close to them. I highly recommend if you visit Monteverde that you book a walking tour with a guide for the full experience.

Yours Truly

#47 | Shuttle to Monteverde

We toured with Monteverde Tours from La Fortuna to Monteverde. We were picked up directly from our hotel in a shuttle bus and taken to a small boat at Arenal Lake. From there we rode across the man made lake where we were picked up by our second shuttle and taken to our bed and breakfast. The ride was peaceful, the staff were nice and we made some friends that we would continue to see for the remainder of our trip.

Yours Truly

#46 | La Fortuna, Costa Rica (Part 2)

Our last day in La Fortuna was fantastic, at this point I was getting used to the cloudy skies above the rain forest. Low season was incredible, there really weren't many tourists in the area making our short visit that much better. That morning we had decided to check out the La Fortuna Waterfall. Our plan was to beat the rush bright and early so that we could have the area to ourselves for a bit. We ate our breakfast quickly and waited for our cab to arrive.

When we arrived we saw this amazing view above of a waterfall spouting into the center of a forest. The main parts to this park were the waterfall itself and an orchid trail. We followed the waterfall path first, it was about 500 steps down until we would would arrive at the base. On our way down we got a good glimpse of what this habitat had to offer, there was lush green forestry, butterflies and a bunch of birds as well. The walk was quick and easy and we kept moving quicker as the sound of water became louder and louder.

When we reached the waterfall there may have only been three people taking photos, so we were lucky enough to take in the views and sounds of the La Fortuna waterfall. Unfortunately there was a staff member who was chaining up the creek area as he told us that the rainfall from the other day makes it unsafe to be in the water. I wasn't too upset though, the water was a lot more murky than what I had seen in photos when we were doing research for your trip. Aashna mentioned to me that on a good day you could book a tour and repel alongside the waterfall which would be cool for the adventurous type. I sat around visualizing myself swimming and repelling and that was good enough for me.

Once the place began to get a little busier we trekked back up the 500 stairs and made it to the orchid trail. On many of the trees within the trail you could see beautiful flowers with small signs offering information on the orchid. I was never really one to be interested in birdwatching and flower spotting but this trip may have changed me into a new man.

Once we had finished up at the park, we went back to the town to grab some lunch, waters and kill some time before we had to catch our shuttle for our next trip. Below are some photos I took of the church, the town park and a little market we passed by on the way to grabbing another casado meal.

Yours Truly

#45 | La Fortuna, Costa Rica (Part 1)

Our flight took us about five hours from Toronto to San José, Costa Rica. As soon as we landed, we roamed to our Interbus shuttle pick up and hopped in with a few other tourists from Canada and the United States to make our way to the small town called La Fortuna. It's about about a three hour drive northwest of the capital city and is known for its nearness to the active Arenal Volcano, hot springs and waterfall. Once we had got in, we got ourselves familiar with the downtown area, the food from the soda restaurants (locally owned spots) and booked a tour for the following day.

The next day we woke up early to sip on some coffee and eat gallo pinto (rice and beans) for breakfast. The first thing on our agenda was to head to Sky Trek to do some zip lining near the volcano and national park (shoutout to these guys). When we were dropped off at the tour location we went through a short safety demonstration and then rode a tram up to the top of a hill. We were given the opportunity to take some photos and mingle with some of the other travellers. As we got talking with the tour guides, they mentioned that there were seven zip lines, that we'd be around 650 ft off the ground and that the longest cable was about a half mile long. I didn't really realize what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up, we had done zip lining before but this was much more intense. We strapped into the harness and decided to ride first so that we wouldn't regret our decision and took in the amazing views! In the second shot below you can see Aashna trying to brake before she gets to the end of a cable.

After our heart rates dropped we decided to grab a bite and head to the Baldi Hot Springs. Baldi is the largest hot spring in Costa Rica featuring 25 pools, natural saunas, four water slides and amazing tropical rainforest views. Just to our surprise, there was a downpour when we arrived that had scared most of the people out of the pool. Aashna and I figured that we'd take advantage of the pools while no one was in them, running from one area to the next. The higher you got into the park, the hotter the water became. This was the perfect way to spend our afternoon.

After that there isn't much to write about. We hit up a pizza spot called Anch'io that was recommended by some visitors because of their wood-fired oven, listened to some live singers at a bar and indulged in some of the local beers. Until next time!

Yours Truly

#44 | Toronto, Canada

To get to Costa Rica, we first had to spend 24 hours in Toronto to wait for our second flight. I was excited for this though as I have never been to the city and was looking forward to visit friends, eat food and shop. As soon as we finished checking into our hotel, we caught an Uber to Ramen Isshin that was recommended by our good friend Ron. We waited 30 minutes for a seat but it was well worth it when I took my first bite of the thick ramen noodles and slurped my spicy miso soup (it may have converted me from being a shoyu fan). Aashna was also hooked on her vegetarian version of the spicy miso ramen which was quite tasty and pretty different from my pork broth.

After chowing down on some delicious noodles we decided to burn some calories by heading downtown to check out some stores including Livestock, Reigning Champ and Uniqlo. I figured I should buy a couple of long sleeves to throw in my bag and after that we hit up Bar Fancy and Warehouse for some drinks and fried chicken with some of our friends.

To end off the night, we purchased tickets to check out the Toronto FC vs LAFC match at BMO Field. The stadium is great as it seemed that every seat in the house had a decent view and the game itself was exciting. Toronto didn't produce the result they were hoping for as they lost 4-2 but it was filled with great goals. Jozy Altidore and Carlos Vela were a blast to watch create chances and finish opportunities.

The day went by quickly but I'm already a Toronto fan. I'm looking forward to going back to eat more food and roam the streets that we didn't have the opportunity to explore.

Yours Truly