🇨🇷 2025 Summer Monteverde

On the map, La Fortuna and Monteverde look really close, but the actual distance is quite far because there's a mountain in between. The best way to travel between these two towns is "Jeep-boat-jeep" – take the jeep to Lake Arenal, get on a boat to get across the lake, and take another jeep to Monteverde – it takes around three and a half hours. The road to Monteverde is very winding, and the view is amazing. I decided to risk having motion sickness and stay awake to watch the view outside. The view brought me back to Alishan in Taiwan.

We arrived in Monteverde before noon, which was earlier than I expected. I checked the time and realised that I could book to go bungee jumping at 1:30 pm. Yup, this was one of my highlights of the trip – did bungee jumping before I turned 30! The weather in Costa Rica is very unpredictable, so I thought it was better to make use of the good weather and decided to move my bungee jumping a day earlier.

Before we get into the exciting bungee jumping part, I want to introduce my accommodation. It was the most shabby one I stayed in this trip. I thought that cheap hostel should be fine for just two nights. And yes… it is what I paid for. The wooden floor felt like it could collapse any second or cockroaches could appear from any corner. They even gave me a wrong key at check-in. The hostel I stayed at was in Santa Elena, kind of like a small town centre in the mountain area. I chose here mainly because I didn’t drive and it might be a bit inconvenient to stay closer to Monteverde forest. For people that are driving, you can pick somewhere closer to Monteverde forest, There are some really nice villas there.

I booked my bungee jump plus the pickup from Monteverde Extremo Park. They provide other extreme activities like zip lining as well. First thing when I arrived was to check-in and weighed myself. They organise visitors to set off in a group of three, I was in the same group with a guy from Israel and a girl from Canada. The safety staff helped us put on harness and safety equipments at the preparation area, and then… off to the middle of the valley! Before we jumped, they asked us if we have any “last words”. It started fogging up when I was about to jump. I’m not sure whether I was less anxious because of this. When Sam saw the video, he was surprised how unhesitant and fearless I was. He asked me what was I thinking when I jumped. I said, “Well… if I died, I died. I have no regrets in my life and it’s quite a cool way to die.”

After the jump, the Canadian girl and I followed each other on Instagram. “It feels like we’ve just gone through life and death together, so we should exchange contact,” she said. It was pouring rain when we were reviewing and picking the jump video. Lucky us.

The rain stopped a bit at around 7pm and I went back on my adventure – a night time nature tour. Originally, there was another group joining me, but they cancelled last minute. When I was waiting outside thenature park with the tour guide, we found out another tour guide had the same issue. They made a deal to combine me and the other group and one of the tour guide could have a rest that evening. I felt relieved to be honest. Although everyone I met in Costa Rica were nice, it is a bit daunting to walk in forest at night with a guy.

I highly recommend a night time nature tour for people visiting Costa Rica. We saw so many nocturnal animals. Submerging into the darkness, I experienced something different from the daytime tour. The tour last for an hour and a half, and we saw two vapors, a hummingbird in his sleep, a motmot, an owl, a scorpion and a stick insect – which has a magnificent camouflage, it was at one with the tree.

On my second day in Monteverde, I planned to go to Curi Cancha Reserve for birdwatching. The information I found online said that there were buses to there, but I could find any bus that morning. I ended up taking taxi outside the church as the fare is ok. When I arrived at Curi Cancha, the taxi driver gave me his card so that I could call him if I needed a return taxi.

There are three famous nature reserves in Monteverde. Most people choose to go to Monteverde Cloud Forest, the second most is Santa Elena Cloud Forest. Curi Cancha is smaller than the other two Cloud Forests, but the diversity of birds here is as good (or even better)!

I regretted not booking tour for Curi Cancha. Although I was quite happy to go around by myself, I felt that I probably missed many things without a professional tour guide. For birder, I will say Curi Cancha is a perfect place to go. It is not too crowded, so you can enjoy the nature without disturbance. You are almost guaranteed to see hummingbirds here, even without a guide. I stayed at a spot for almost an hour, just to observe and take photos of the cute hummingbirds. I must’ve been so still and concentrate on the birds that one of them flew very close to my ears. The moment it flew by, I was so shocked by the vibration of the air. It felt like an helicopter flying by and it was fascinating to see that the creature that created such big vibration was so tiny.

I walked back to Santa Elena after spending a morning in Curi Cancha. There were many independent shops that sold local artists’ works. I bought a hummingbird poster to remember the day I first saw a hummingbird.

On my way back, I saw a coffee truck and the owner was chilling there. As I took out my camera to capture the moment, the owner waved at me and invitied me to sit with me. He didn’t ask me to buy any coffee or pastries from him, so I just sat there enjoying the view and chatting with him for half an hour. We talked about my trip and the reason he moved to Costa Rica from Russia.

I really enjoyed these encounters on my solo trips.

Actually, on my second night in San Jose, I met an American guy at the hostel. We chatted for three hours that night and watched bats flying in and out of the tree outside of the hostel together. Just two strangers enjoying the moment, not knowing whether we will ever meet again or not.