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Monteverde (Costa Rica)
by siberian-queen
The Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica - even the mention of it takes me away to a beautiful place, I adored it and would go back in the drop of a hat. I am not alone apparently National Geographic quoted it to be "the natural jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves".
I personally went to Costa Rica with the ... idea to enjoy the wildlife and see as much as I could as I may never get the chance to go back, so that is what I did. The trip cost me around $120 per adult however, this included mini bus from my hotel to monteverde and back which was a few hours, tourist guide the entire way, lunch , dinner and entrance costs.
Set about 3 ½ miles out of Santa Elena, of Guanacaste, but from many of the tourist areas and hotels it is often a few hours drive and the roads are not tarmac most of the way they are very bumpy, rocky and muddy. Our drive was a few hours. We were picked up from our hotel in a mini bus with visitors from other hotels too, having previously arranged our trip with a guide on our resort. The tour guide was fantastic from the get go he spoke several languages and had a huge amount of knowledge covering all topics of Costa Rica, not just the forest we were embarking on. On root (we set off early am) he told us he just needed to stop off. Off he went to a small shop and came out with Costa Rican stamps for us all at no cost and picked up his daughter too so we could take her to school! It was brilliant so relaxed and certainly made the journey a lot more enjoyable. On root we proceeded to keep stopping, off we would get and he would show us animals in trees and even a short walk to a tarantula's nest!
Eventually we arrived at the Forest. The following information I have part remembered, part my guide leaflet and from www.monteverdeinfo.com website. I implore you to look at it just to see the amazing photos!
**HISTORY**
In the 1950's Quakers from America settled in Monteverde and established the basis of the Forest and a small community. They were quite content until 1972 when farmers threatened the land of the forest as they wanted to expand. During this insecure time scientist visitor George Powell met up with local Wildford Guidon and they set up the Tropical Science Centre to own and manage the 10,500 hectares forest land and surrounding areas.
The Tropical Science Centre still manages this non profit private reserve forest today.
**THE MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST**
When you reach the entrance there is a well designed, spacious but simple meeting area. Here you will also find a gift shop (some fantastic present ideas), you can also by a poncho here if you forget one like me. It is advised to take one as it can become quite cool amongst the mist. A large eating restaurant resides over on one side with a tapir in the garden would loves apples apparently! This is important to not too - is the only place where there are toilets. None are found on the walks around.
As you get out of the bus and moving around with your guide, you quickly notice the humidity (4,700 feet above sea level in places) - it does take your breath away to begin with but gradually you get used to it. This is important to remember though if you do have breathing issues and do take plenty of water as again this is not available once you start your walks. Whilst on this issue you should wear long trousers and good trainers or boots, tuck your trousers in possibly lots of creepy crawlies! Regarding the boots, this is just because you are walking through the forest. The paths are neatly set out but they are just that - paths and have rocks and branches over them too.
As you get deeper into the forest you will see the importance of taking a good guide with you. Many of the creature are so hard to spot in the natural habitat you would simply just miss them and that would be a crying shame. We saw lots of soldier leaf ants marching along carrying cut leafs along the floor and up a tree. Others going before us without a guide walked straight past such a pity.
Many creatures were encountered as there are literally thousands of birds and insects. Sloth's are hard to spot especially in the day when they are sleeping and as they are so high up, but when you do spot them they have an undeniable mystification about them.
Along the way you are sure to visit the humming bird garden. Set out in a sort of replica stone and patio garden type effect with bird tables set with sweet sugary juices, the humming birds literally whiz past your ears. Hovering at the juices you can see the pretty close up and they have the most amazing and striking colours for such tiny birds. Monkeys are in wonderful view in the high trees and seem to enjoy your visits, howling when you are spotted. You do get to see lots of butterflies flying around including the bright blue morpho butterfly if you are lucky.
Unfortunately we didn't see a jaguar or ocelot, due to there stealth like nature I think that it would be difficult unless you were very patient and we just didn't have the time.
Amidst the grounds is a stone building with huge glass windows, surrounded by small ponds which have tiny frogs and bugs in. If you go inside there are snakes, all in glass cages but you can get up close and personal. One thing I didn't like is when they fed a live mouse to one L I know it's nature but I felt sorry for the mouse. Inside this display area were also frogs and iguanas and more insects.
Apart from all these gorgeous creatures there are an abundance of plants to see, including hundreds of orchid varieties (one of my favourites). Mainly of course it is full of lush green forest but if you take your time to look you can see small flowers here and there.
The place is called the cloud forest so as you would expect there are many clouds. When you go right to the top of the trees on the bridges you can see the clouds rising up out of the mist - very picturesque. Our guide was telling the children on the walk a short story that this was where baby clouds were made and if they looked closely they would see the tiny puffs gather to make a big fluffy cloud - they were all mesmerised as I have to admit so was I!
**GETTING ABOUT**
As I previously said the paths are just paths amongst the forest floor and you do need to look where you are going. I have to say though it was fairly easy in walking capabilities but if you had some sort of disability it might be a little to much, especially with the humidity as well.
If you do decide to go without a guide there are various walks set out in the guide book, each having varying distance and climbing etc which they set out clearly for you; some as short as 10 minutes others a couple of hours - longer if you stop a lot.
As most of the cloud formations begin so high up the reserve has what they call sky walks. Basically they are suspension type bridges that vary in high and length the biggest being nearly 300 feet high! Not for the faint hearted but you do get the most amazing views of the clouds and tree tops. Looking down if you can stomach it is truly fantastic to see all the different aspects of the forest from tree top to ground. Beware though some people do swing them! Before you get on one they do tell you how high it is, not sure what you would do if you didn't cross it though?
Zip lines are dotted about for people to enjoy and although I didn't try this it did look great fun - you could hear the screams!
A night walk is also available if you book well in advance .
Apart from the things I have already said about the importance of a guide, they are good for telling you if something is not good. I almost put my hand on huge furry caterpillar making it's way along the sky walk, before I heard a stop! Which proceeded to panic me somewhat being so high up. Apparently this furry fiend would have given me 24 hours worth of vomiting should I have touched him!
I think in places where your trusty mobile will not work it is good to have a knowledgeable local around in case of something unforeseen happening.
Overall, as you probably gathered I adored this place. It is a ecological wonderland.
Review maybe posted on dooyoo and ciao under the same username
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Cozumel (Mexico)
by grahamt
Our trip to Mexico this year involved many excursions but for the most part on the mainland, along the Mayan Riviera from Cancun in the north to Tulum in the south. However, there was one place other than this that we wanted to visit and that was the island of Cozumel, just around a three-quarter-hour ferry trip from either Cancun or, ... in our case, Playa del Carmen, being the nearest town to our hotel.
From Playa del Carmen there are two ferry companies competing for your business. I say competing but, to be honest, the competition isn't very fierce. They effectively deliver alternate sailings and at the same price, whichever company you choose. You can buy a return ticket but I would advise against it as the most convenient crossing for your return trip may not be with the same company with which you travelled out. I suggest you buy a single each way; the cost when we visited was 140 Pesos per person.
The crossing was absolutely packed and quite interesting. We were sat inside on the upper deck, next to the side so we could see the sea. Here the sides of the boat are covered by mostly clear, plastic sheets. However, what we hadn't realised was that they weren't tied down too well and so flapped when the wind caught them, which always seemed to coincide with a burst of spray from the wake of the ship! After getting splashed once we spent the rest of the crossing hanging on the the sheet to prevent it happening again!
A small band entertained us on the crossing. They set up their equipment right next to where we were sat but fortunately the speakers weren't pointed at us! They weren't bad and, of course, the hat went round for a collection as we approached Cozumel.
We arrived at the jetty at the main town on Cozumel, San Miguel. Right opposite is the Plaza Principal, an open area with shops, restaurants and bars all around it. In fact, this is pretty much what San Miguel is all about. Outside of San Miguel it is mainly hotel complexes but here you come to shop, eat and be entertained. There are also a number of Mayan ruins you can visit though most are, I understand (we didn't have time to visit), not as impressive as those on the mainland such as Chichen Itza, Tulum and Coba, but probably well worth a visit if you are spending more time on the island.
The main areas of interest appear to be south of the ferry terminal, and that's the direction we took. The main shopping area seems to extend back from the coast about 200 metres before it starts to peter out. However, it extends south around a kilometre so there should never be nothing worth investigating. Many of the shopping areas are arranged as open-air malls. Once you reach Plaza Punta Lagosta you've pretty much reached the end of most of the interesting stuff. This is where we turned around and started making our way back.
Despite the evident competition between shops, we still found a large difference in prices for very similar goods; it pays to do a lot of browsing before deciding on a purchase. We did and came away with some interesting and attractive purchases. One in particular was exceptional. My beloved really wanted to buy some jewellery (well, no surprises there then) in Mexican silver and amber. She was really after a necklace but couldn't find just what she wanted. She did, however, find a very nice bracelet in a shop called Joyeria Viridiana in the Plaza Punta Lagosta shopping mall.
The owner could see we were interested and we asked the price. The first offer was always going to be just that, an opener. We said, as you do, that it wasn't really what we were looking for. Anyway, after a bit of haggling he offered to split the bracelet to form three links as a pendant on a silver chain with the remainder split into two link earrings, all for 100 Dollars US (£65). I could see my beloved's eyes light up so we agreed and, to give him time to do the work, went off for lunch. When we returned the result had turned out even better than we could have hoped and this set is now one of her favourite pieces. Result!
So, where did we go whilst we were waiting? You're not short of places to eat in San Miguel but most that we saw were noisy, packed and not offering anything that could in any way be described as "interesting". So, we asked the locals and were pointed virtually next door to the Plaza Punta Lagosta shopping mall where we were at that moment. On Calle 7 Sur, just about 50 metres up from the coast road you find a little traditional Mexican restaurant called Costa Brava.
It's main attraction was it's clean but simple appearance and with not too many customers already occupying the tables. As usual, we checked out the loos before ordering, just to check what state they were in: clean and nothing to cause offence. The seeming lack of customers was probably because it isn't a flashy, noisy place that sticks itself in your face in order to attract your custom; just the way we like it. We had a choice of tables and, I have to be honest, none with what you would call "a view". If that's what you want then look elsewhere.
The food was excellent. We had a large plate of mixed Mexican dishes which we shared and washed down with several bottles of Mexican lager. There was as much in this one dish as we needed for lunchtime refreshment although we did follow up with a couple of desserts; well, you have to don't you? Total came to around 400 Pesos (£20), which was a bargain. I see that in their Internet site, if you print off their webpage and present it on payment you even get a 10% discount!
By now it was time to make our way back to the ferry. We revisited a number of the outlets we had explored on the way down and inevitably made a few more purchases of souvenirs for friends and relatives. We finally stopped for another beer or three at a bar right on the corner of the Plaza Principal, facing the ferry terminal. Here we could sit and watch the World go by and sip our drinks until the ferry docked. Prices here are not cheap, probably because of the prime position and there are other bars all around that probably offer better deals. However, the environment and atmosphere was pleasant, so we stayed.
Of course, there's a lot more to Cozumel than this but, if you're on holiday on the Mayan Riviera and fancy a day out to Cozumel than I can recommend it, if you objective is shopping, eating and drinking. If you want to lay out on the beach than I can't think of any reason why you would want to come all the way here to do it if you weren't planning to stay.
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