Santa Elena, Costa Rica

...spending time in a cloud forest



After leaving La Fortuna, we headed to the town of Santa Elena, which is surrounded by the 'cloud forest' of Monteverde - the place that came in at number 14 on Newsweek's "100 places to remember before they disappear.


Santa Elena is approximately 1,500 metres above sea-level, so has a fairly cool climate all year round (jeans and long-sleeve tshirt weather). The area is considered a hub of eco-tourism in Costa Rica, and attracts all sorts of birdwatchers, naturists, and hikers.

Monteverde

We had several extremely good days here, and will definitely revist the area if we get the chance. We spent a day hiking in the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde - Monteverde's main cloud forest. Which for serious non-hikers like us, has got us thinking about doing this sort of thing more often in the future!


The other major activity we did while staying in Santa Elena was to go 'zip-lining'. Initially we thought it was going to be pretty lame, but we'd been convinced to go along with another couple that we met on the way to San Jose ("do you know the way to San Jose? I've been away too long"), and had travelled with since.


For the uninitiated, zip-lining is a fancy version of the old flying-fox - except this version is with heavy duty wire lines, harnesses, helmets, and a thick leather glove to use as your break.

Surprise Number 1. Yes, that
is the top of the rainforest
canopy below

The area that we did it in was on either side of a fairly large valley, where you zip-line around a course that was made up of 16 or 17 different sectors. The guys who ran the place told us at the beginning that there were three surprises in store for us., and after getting harnessed up, we completed the first couple of sectors and started to really enjoy ourselves. It was here that we got to surprise number one: a rappel/abseil down a large tree, high above the canopy of the rainforest.


After the abseil, we continued on with the course for another few zip-lines before we got to Surprise Number 2: the Tarzan Swing.

Surprise Number 2:
Jump from this platform

Swing presumably like Tarzan

Put simply, here you jump out of a tree, freefall for about 5 seconds, and then swing through the jungle on a giant rope, until they pull you in and the next person goes.


The third and final surprise is known simply as the "Superman". It is a 1km long cable that is strung up across a valley, however instead of zip-lining as usual - in a seated position - you are strapped up in a way that you hang from the wire, and fly across the valley like Superman. The height at the highest point is 180 metres, and the view you get is absolutely amazing. Emma freely admits to "shitting" herself for the duration of the Superman.

Superman: 1km long, 180 metres high,
not much time to shit yourself