Costa Rica - Monteverde Cloud Forest Day 3

After breakfast, you will be transferred to a boat at Arenal Dam to cross the lake (15-30 mins depending on wind conditions). The boat will dock at Rio Chiquito, a small town on the shore of Arenal Lake, where you will board an air-conditioned van for a 2 1⁄2 -hour drive to your hotel in Monteverde. Monteverde is a peaceful community made up of dairy farmers, naturalists and tourism service providers who have joined together to create a model for sustainable development and protection of the environment that is becoming known throughout the world. Founded in 1954 by a group of Quakers searching for a peaceful place to live, it is the home of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, the Children's Eternal Rainforest, and the Santa Elena Reserve.

We said goodbye to Arenal Volcano.

This was the best view of the Volcano the entire trip. It was mostly covered by clouds

We got on a boat and crossed the lake

Then we met the driver and headed up the mountain.

Here are the roads, mentioned in a previous post. Dirt packed, rocky, bumpy, very bumpy, muddy roads.

The drivers can only go about 10 miles an hour up the side of the mountain.

Which is why it takes 2 hrs to go about 45 miles.

You have to get up the mountainside before the fog rolls in... otherwise.... big trouble

The ride was very fun. Really.

There were goats, chickens, horses, cows sometimes fenced, sometimes not. 

I joked if we had driven ourselves we would never get anywhere.

I desperately wanted to stop at every little market.

Late in the afternoon, depart for the Sunset horseback riding tour, accompanied by a Spanish-speaking guide. Ride through coffee and banana plantations. You will end up with a view of the Gulf of Nicoya and the sunset.

Chip used to ride in high school.

He scared the bejeezes out of some poor people, when he galloped full speed straight towards them. 

AHH runaway horse!! 

He did it on purpose.

The good thing for me... My horse was lazy, he couldn't/or wouldn't get up to full speed.

Bad thing for me. My tooshie still hurt the next day.

We spent a lot of vacation looking like this.

Here we were viewing a stick owl.

I would show you the picture... but he looks like a stick and you cannot see him anyway.

Happy Trails to you!