So I decided to go to Monteverde solo, I got to the bus station fairly early to make sure I didn't have to sit on the floor of the bus. I met a girl named Nicollete at the bus stop (thought it was interesting that my mom originally wanted to name me that)! We chatted for a little until the bus came, she was waiting for her group of friends to arrive. Finally the bus came and left exactly at 2:30pm. The ride was about 4.5-5 hours long. It went by fine, I finally got to finish reading the 50 shades of Grey series. The last hour and a half of the bus ride was really bumpy and I seriously thought we were going to tip over! The fresh air out of the window felt so nice though!
We arrived to Monteverde and the bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. I followed this couple and asked if they knew where they were going. They were from Australia and super nice! They ended up finding a security guard and getting a taxi; they asked me if I would like to share the taxi, so I did!!
I got to my hostel where I met the host. When he showed me my room I was amazed; a beautiful room with two queen sized beds and a perfect bathroom! I was so happy and even the hostel kitchen looks nice and clean. I went out for dinner to this place called Taco Taco, the quesadilla was absolutely delicious! Then I decided to rest for the night since I was so tired.
The next day (today) I had a free breakfast at my hostel, which was pretty yummy and very fresh! The hosts wife made the breakfast for me when I came downstairs instead of buffet style. I was very grateful for finding such a great place. Then the host (Ronny), helped me book the cheese tour and I took a taxi at 8:30. When I got there I had 20 minutes before the tour started so I started exploring. I saw a sign for "Sara's Gallery" so I started walking towards it. I was in the forest and I kept walking and walking and it seemed so far. I looked at the time and I only had about 15 minutes to get back to the tour so I started walking back. Then I walked up a small hill and saw a nice pond and beautiful horses. Finally I walked back to start the tour.
I waited inside the cheese factory store and there were two other people waiting for the guide. We began to chat and they were there on their honeymoon, they ha jut gotten married on the 19th! They were very nice.
The tour begun and we walked around the factory, we saw cheese being made, and then we watched a 20 minute video on the history of the factory which I actually found pretty interesting. The people who built it were Quakers from Alabama who were trying to get away from the military drafts in the US. Finally we got to try cheese samples of six different types of cheese! It was so yummy!!!! I went to their store in the end and bought some ice cream. I would have loved to buy cheese but had no were to store it.
I said my goodbyes to the tour guide and the nice couple that I had met. I started heading back to Sara's Gallery because I couldn't get over the curiosity of how far in the forest it was. It took awhile but I got there!! It definitely was up there! Her home was beautiful!! Sara had her paintings up everywhere and they really were amazing to me. She was a very nice American woman who moved to Costa Rica during the Vietnam war. She raised both her children in Costa Rica in the same house. Unfortunately one of her sons moved to the US and was killed in a car accident at the age of 26. She was a pleasant lady! I ended up buying cards with prints of her paintings on them! (Also 5 minutes after I entered, the newlywed couple came by! We walked back down together).
After that I decided to go to the Monteverde cloud forest. I walked for sooo long, it was miles away and it started to pour!! At midpoint I found a restaurant and had a delicious dinner and some red wine. The bartender was very nice and we chatted for a bit. After that I continued on my journey (it stopped raining) and finally found the forest!! I paid for a guide and while waiting for the guide I went to the gift shop. The guide turned out to be super nice! We walked through the cloud forest and I did my tour in Spanish so he taught me a lot of new words like murciélago (bat) and colibrà (hummingbird)...etc etc. It started to pour again and we continued walking. I saw a Quetzal which was beautiful and nothing else really but it was still a nice tour. Oops and the mini waterfall, which was a nice sight! Our tour concluded and I said my goodbyes! I went on to a hummingbird gallery and it was the first time I saw hummingbirds in my life! They were beautiful!! I was able to catch a bus after and I asked the bus driver to drop me off at the Bat Jungle.
The bat jungle was a small area and there were only 75 bats there. The guide was another super nice person I met today and he was very informative, you could tell he had a deep passion for bats!
I headed back into town and was lucky enough to get the same taxi driver from the morning. I went back to the hostel to take all the heavy things out of my purse, on my way back someone called my name, it was my tour guide from the cloud forest. He was sitting inside this building right next to my hostel. He introduced me to his girlfriend who works in the building (it was funny because we were both talking about our partners during our tour, so it was cool to meet her)!
When I was on my way to dinner when my ex roommate Jalissa called. She is in Monteverde with a few friends and invited me to dinner, so I said sure. While waiting for them to get ready I went to the "serpentarium", I saw a lot of cool snakes, frogs, turtles, and lizards/iguanas. The boa constrictor really caught my eye because it was huge!!
I went to meet Jalissa and her friends for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich which the lady had to remake because she put ketchup on it after I specifically asked what was in the sandwich (for anyone who knows me, I don't even like to touch a ketchup bottle). The sandwich was delicious but the lady didn't seem too happy to remake it. After dinner I came back to the hostel and now I'm relaxing! I was so happy to meet all the nice people that I met today and I was so grateful for all the things I was able to do! It truly was an amazing experience and part II is coming tomorrow!:):):):)
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