Feliz Navidad!

The Road to Monteverde (from Yomate)
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Robert Frost may have been trying to reach the famed Monteverde cloud forest when he penned The Road Less Traveled. If so, he must have pulled over to the side of the road because none of the paths through these mountains is smooth enough to write a single word clearly.

Our trek began early Christmas morning along the Pan American Highway from San Jose. From this wonderfully maintained road there are three main paths up to Monteverde – the road at Rancho Grande, the road at Yomate, and the road through Las Juntas. None of these roads are marked particularly well – although the Rancho Grande option does have several billboards for Monteverde attractions – and other than highway 18 through Las Juntas I don’t believe they even have names.

The Road Less Traveled - for good reason!

A Friend Along the Road
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A local declared the Yomate road “mas facil que” the Rancho Grande option, but I have to assume he was joking. That or the road through Rancho Grande actually has land mines. At least the Yomate route had the advantage of being nearly deserted - other motorists apparantly having better intel than we did. The actual best way to go is the road through Las Juntas. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t discover that until our return trip several days later.

Although only 34 kilometers, the road from Yomate took us over 2 hours to reach our destination at Santa Elena – just a couple miles before the cloud forest. Potholes the size of our 4x4, hairpin mountain turns and impossible grades made it a grueling driving experience. I wouldn’t recommend trying it without four-wheel drive and certainly not in the rainy season.

On the Trail of Me Lucky Charms
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The locals tell me that there have been several efforts to pave roads to Monteverde, but the residents have fought off each attempt. Their belief is the region could not handle the amount of tourist traffic the area would generate if it were easier to reach. Having felt the peace of wandering through a rainforest for hours without seeing or hearing another human being, I tend to agree with them. Larger crowds would ruin the experience. I’m sure it also helps keep the local mechanics solvent.

Drivers along this route are rewarded with stunning views that frequently extend across to the Nicoya Peninsula. Mist from the rainforest also creates perfect conditions for rainbows. I lost count of how many times we rounded a mountain bend to find a full spectrum rainbow highlighting a spectacular view of the mountains and ocean. Of course, we also found many of these same views on our return down the much easier road through Las Juntas.

In addition to the beautiful mountain vistas, we were also amused by the cows that never seemed to be on the correct side of the fence. Most were dairy cows from the cheese collective in Monteverde and we never tired of pausing to take their pictures. It became a theme of the entire trip as, time and again, we found cows on the road side of the fence with their heads sticking through the barbed wire to eat grass on the other side – the side one would assume they should have been on in the first place. It’s the little things in life!

Sometime mid-afternoon (I left my watch in the states) we checked into Tina’s Casitas in Santa Elena, a short drive to Monteverde. We spent the afternoon and evening exploring the little town defined by a triangle of streets packed with restaurants, shops and a super market. The town is small and friendly and dominated by hostels, cabinas, hotels and tour operators. It’s a great spot to stock up on supplies and get information about the region before heading off to the various cloud forest preserves and tours in the area. There are also several good restaurant and nightlife options.

By early evening we were exhausted and headed back down the road to the cabina and a chance to rest and catch up on our journals. Tomorrow we would tackle the rainforest!