I found my thrills (5 of them) in Monteverde, Costa Rica

During our stay at Monteverde Lodge and Gardens, I had to visit the denizens of the butterfly garden every day. At least once.

A green toucan takes a break in the Monteverde Cloud Forest.

I discovered one thrill after another during a recent visit to the Costa Rican cloud forest called Monteverde. In fact I found five of them in this green lush garden set high in the mountains of Costa Rica, where clouds slide by overhead and drop a cooling mist.It’s a fertile place, climbing to the sky and plunging to rivers murmuring below us. The loud scream of the howler monkeys interrupts the chirp of bird and the swish of wind rushing through the trees.

1. Walk through the Monteverde Cloud Preserve

The quetzal is a rare bird but there he is hanging on the side of a tree where he’s building a home for the family. With his dramatic tail, he’s about two feet long.

Take a walk with a knowledgeable guide, through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, nearly a mile above sea level,  for the opportunity to see monkeys and brightly colored quetzals, orchids tiny as the tip of your little finger and strangler ficus trees that tower over the paths. Our wonderful guide Oscar showed us where the forest was being renewed through conservation practices. And he was absolutely delighted to point out a bright blue and red quetzal couple building its nest, a baby spider monkey peeking out from the protection of its mother, and a howler monkey who stubbornly kept its back to us. Not every visitor gets to see them, he said.

2. Have some coffee

Our tour guide at El Trapiche stops beside banana trees. Beyond him, the farm stretches

After a morning in that oasis we spent the afternoon on a family farm. El Trapiche grows all the things I need to live: coffee, sugar, and chocolate. (Chocolate is a new venture for them.) During the tour of the farm, we stopped in the sheds where coffee and chocolate are roasted and ground and saw sugar cane being boiled for sugar. We even were able to stir the hot syrup to crystallize it into a sweet, almost fruity, brown sugar. I thought this might be a gimmicky tour but in truth I learned a lot about my favorite foods. We even saw a double rainbow as a gentle mist enveloped us.

3. Fly

Sometimes the guides have to swing out to rescue a tourist who stops short of the platform. I had to be rescued three times when I just couldn’t make it.

As thrilling as all that was, we saved our heart-pounding for the next day at Selvatura Park, an 850-acre section of the cloud forest. Strapped into a harness, we took a zip line canopy tour with 17 zip lines,  the longest about 1,000 meters (that’s more than a half mile) that stretched high above the canopy. With guides confident and calm, I lost my fear — even as the adrenalin coursed through my veins with each new zip line. I know how birds must feel soaring over the trees, the wind trying to shove me in a different direction as the next stopping point nears VERY quickly. I forgot to breathe but I did remember to look down and see the trees.

The eight bridges over the forest ranged from 200 to 500 feet long, and stretched over forest and narrow rivers. Occasionally, we caught a glimpse of the zip liners flying overhead.

4. Swing

The views were tremendous but each leg of the tour went by so quickly I was glad for the swinging bridges walk that followed. Next time I’ll train for the steep inclines of this walk but I was awed with this green and fertile place. Like Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, this forest is protected, which enabled us to experience an ecosystem unlike any we had experienced before. We heard howler monkeys and the chirps of birds above us, the murmur of a river rushing far underneath us. As beautiful as it was, we felt we should have had a guide as good as Oscar to really see the forest (and the trees.) Combine the two tours with lunch at Selvatura’s cafe for a wonderful day.

See? I did it! And I’ll go again.

Selvatura also has butterfly and hummingbird gardens, a herpetarium, hotel and a gift shop. Zip-liners can also buy photos of their flight through the trees. Of course, we bought them.

5. Be

Whatever you do, enjoy this moment. I let go my fears and flew. I paused when the hill got steep and heard a howler monkey. I took a breath and found my thrill in Costa Rica. ¡Pura vida!

ⓒ Text and photos Mary K. Tilghman
(except photo of me. That’s courtesy Selvatura Park.)

Fly high, fly fast. Zip lining in Selvatura Park.

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