The Monteverde and Santa Elena Area
Monteverde and Santa Elena were the second leg of our trip and they were beautiful. Our only disappointment on this portion of the trip was the absence of birds to see. There was a fair collection of them around the Hotel Fonda Vela at breakfast but not much to see on the tours. They told us that we would need to come out very early in the day to see birds in their natural habitat.
Travel to Monteverde - This was our first extended experience on truly bad roads in Costa Rica. We had seen some before but this trip took nearly 4 hours and consisted of a short shuttle from Nayara to the boat, a boat trip of about 45 minutes and a 2 hour drive over very bad roads to the Hotel Fonda Vela in Santa Elena. There was no chance to take pictures of the roads but I did take some on the boat.
Hotel Fonda Vela - The Fonda Vela was our hotel in Santa Elena and it was decent, but not up to the standards set by the Arenal Nayara. The property itself was extremely attractive with spacious grounds and lots of birds and animals. They feed the birds in the morning so you get quite a show while you eat breakfast. But the walk around the property is pretty uneven and there is no heat or air conditioning so temperature changes are very noticeable. Also, the Internet service is very poor with the only reliable signal being in the main lobby.
Monteverde Coffee Tour - This was an enjoyable visit to a local coffee farm just outside Santa Elena. There are a number of coffee farms in the area but this one was marketed as being more focused on sustainability than the others. We found it to be quite educational and we were a little surprised about how much effort went into recycling and operating the farm in a sustainable manner.
Monteverde Sky Walk - We took a tour on the Sky Walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. There weren't any clouds and it didn't rain so we didn't complain—it was a beautiful day and we were warm and dry. The down side of the walk was there were virtually no birds or animals visible, just a lot of local vegetation.
