I travelled from La Fortuna to nearby Monteverde, taking the scenic route which included a boat trip across the very serene Lake Arenal. I arrived to find Monteverde playing host to an annual mountainbike race and thus a lot of the hotels were full. But, I didn't want just any hotel, I wanted a room with a television so I could watch the Formula 1 at 6am the next morning. I was pointed in the direction to a hotel a little out of town.
The hotel was a small family run lodge. The wife of the family showed me to the room. She opened the door revealing not a room but a small apartment. I liken opening the door to a new hotel room to what it must be like being on the TV show Thank God You're Here, and walking through the door with no idea what to expect. I held my breath as I waited for the woman to tell me the price - $ 40. "I'll take it." $40 is actually a wee bit expensive for a single room in this part of the world but as I said , it was an apartment with a tv and own bathroom. Compared to Australia it was super cheap.
And so at 6am the next morning I was able to watch the race in the comfort of my own apartment. Cool.
The other cool things about Monteverde were dining in a tree house restaurant, and flying through Monteverde's cloud forest. I went on another zip line canopy tour and this was by far the best, with longer runs and greater views over the canopy. But the unique feature about this tour was a 'superman' ride where the harness was attached to your back and you got to zip´over the canopy in a superman flying position - freakin awesome. Then was the tarzan rope - a 148 foot bungee swing. To do the tarzan rope was like walking the plank. You had to walk out 50 meters on to a platform suspended in mid-air and then the rope is attached to your waist. You jump off the platform, feet frist, then what seems like a very long four second drop before the rope takes the slack and you start swinging. Just when you think the scary adreneline rush part is over, the rope swing comes to it's peak and all of a sudden you fall and swing back the other way again, leaving your stomach behind in the process. Great fun.
That's me done for zip line canopy tours. I've done three now, and none could be better than Monteverde.
