monteverde.

Leaving Bahia Drake was sad, as we had grown to like it very much, but we needed to move on...the boat ride to Serpe was not long but expensive, and the guy had over 20 people plus two mountain bikes packed in a fisherman's boat! He made a whole lot of money, that's for sure! Little things like that have been bothering me about Costa Rica...some services are just ridiculously expensive like that, and if that's a sign of "organized tourism", then I don't like it so much...Panama wasn't like that, and I am looking forward to being in Nicaragua for the very same reason.
Anyway, we ended up in San Jose too late in the day to take a bus to Monteverde, so we decided to spend the night at the same hostel, check bus schedules for the following day, and take it easy...it was nice, considering we also got to eat at a vegetarian restaurant that evening!
The next day we caught a 6:30 bus to Monteverde, but I don't remember much of the 4.5 hour ride here, since I slept through most of it...the only thing to note was that the guy who sold us the tickets made sure to say that we should keep our money and passports on us at all times on the bus...I don't think I had ever heard anybody say that when selling a bus ticket!
I remember bits and pieces of the ride up here, and it was steep and winding dirt roads with all sorts of vehicles making the climb, as always...plus, add a big flow of tourists in their own cars...the result is a little town 1600m high with almost more vehicles than people! Some of them are cars rented by tourists, but the majority of the army of minivans covering all corners of town are either taxis or private companies minivans to take tourists to the various attractions/excursions...so this is the face of tourism I don't like so much...this place is very nice, beautiful setting, nice people, great places to stay, fun activities and excursion...but it seems to me that it has grown to become a big money-making machine, a black hole for our money...our first excursion, a guided twilight walk through a forest with a flashlight, was way overpriced (20$ for less than 2 hours!!!) and very disappointing...we did see some birds and 2-3 tarantulas, which are pretty interesting, but the whole thing was definitely a big let down!
The next day, yesterday, we decided to take a hike to the San Luis waterfalls...that was nearly free (although to get to the waterfalls we had to pay $8! Unbelievable!!!), but it was almost 10km there and just as many to get back...so it took us the whole day...the best part of it was these two stray dogs (that we later noticed bum around at our hostel) accompanying us the whole way!!! It was awesome, at first we weren't sure what was going on...they would run up and down the road, come back to us, follow us, then bark at the locals and get really pissed at all sorts of vehicles passying by...so we thought they were eco-friendly dogs, since they did not like engined-vehicles...it was great though! At some point we hitched a ride for about 500m and the poor dogs were running their hearts out trying to keep up with the car! They were so stinky that we kept thinking we had stepped in poop...but no, it was them! When we got to the waterfalls, which was rather narrow but about 50m high, of course they didn't get in the water...go figure! The view of the waterfalls was definitely worth the hike! We didn't hesitate to get in, although it was definitely freezing! It had to be around 12-15C...so we kept it nice and short! We made it back just in time to prepare our New Year's Eve vegan dinner at the hostel, which consisted of spaghetti with olive tomato sauce, a salad and some TVP! It was grand! After dinner we took a short nap, then headed out right before midnight when fireworks started popping up in the sky...we celebrated and then hit the sack by 1am!
This morning, the last day for my brother, we went to do zip lining, also called canopy tour...this was the only time when I can say the 30-40$ spent were definitely well-spent!!! We were gone for about 3 hours, and it was amazing! Zip lining seems big here, and it might catching up in the States too...it consists of platforms connected by cables that run between different sides of a mountain...it originated as a way for biologists to observe wildlife...it is now an adrenaline-rich activity! Wearing a helmet, a pair of gloves and a bunch of ropes tying one up to the cables, one throws himself/herself in the empty space, Tarzan-style, and eventually makes it all the way to other side of the hill...the longest was 753 meters!!! It was quite scenic, considering we always had a rainbow below us! The tour also included rappelling (descending vertically while attached to a rope) and the breathtaking Tarzan swing!!! The Tarzan swing looks like the real thing, except it's modern and made of cables and everything...the guides were really good in helping us in each and every single step...I have to say the Tarzan swing was definitely breathtaking! It almost reminded me of bungee jumping, because after the big jump in the void they let you sway back and forth for a while before stopping you...the weather was misty and windy, but the rainbows made up for it!
Right after that I had to see my brother leave, as his plane back to Italy leaves tomorrow morning...so it's just M and I for now, although I have a 4am bus to Nicaragua tomorrow morning, so this will be M and I's last supper! haha
Happy 2009 to everybody!