Monteverde-Arenaul-St Elena

Greetings one and all

Once out of San Jose the driving was easier on the' main roads. We headed to Arenal the Volcano and stayed at a little patch of paradise called Finca Luena Nueva. 

It is a self contained Ecolodge on the edge of the Childrens rain forest. It is quite beautiful! They provide all there own food that is cooked on site. They run a Bio dynamic organic farm and crop Tumeric and Ginger for pharmacutical companies in the US. They run guided tours of the farm amazingly educational, a swimming pool, games, observation platforms etc. Toucans fly in to watch have breakfast and a Sloth joined the breakfesters the day before we arrived.

Getting to the Monteverde National Park was exciting. We decided to take the scenic route! Scenic it was. The Volcano was spectacular, the Lake beautiful and comimg across a band of wild Cota Munde was a highlite bot oh the roads! I had read up on driving here and thought a 4 wheel drive was appropriate, I was right! About 50 ks of dirt road, spectacularly uneven dirt road. Handled with skill and  dignity and lots of advice 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear the whole way.

The park was beautiful we walked for 4 hours through the cloud forest. The birds are very hard to see and very quiet not like home at all a lot of similarities to home but enough diferences to be exotic! 

A nice lunch then off to go zip lining. This is a rush going through to Jungle canopy at 80kms/hr exhilarating to say the least. It was a real buzz. I wrenched my left shoulder being silly old age and stupidity still are a bad combination. A few tequilas to ease the pain worked at one of the top 10 most bizzare restaraunts in the world the tree House in St Elena it was worthy of its billing.

off to the Chocolate and Coffee tour now.

Hasta la vista!