On Saturday, we all stumbled out of our beds at 5:30 in the morning, falling into the bus one after another to drive down to Monteverde, a town in the mountains of Costa Rica. This town was originally founded by Quakers from the United States who were seeking a safe place to build their community. This city now produces amazing dairy products and boasts lush rainforests through which you can find many a canopy tour (ziplining). Some years ago, National Geographic covered this city and discovered that it was a great city for Quetzal bird sightings, so many tourists and photographers started to visit the city. The roads leading into this city were not paved back then, and because the residents of Monteverde wanted to keep the town the same, a sort of private, secluded city, they petitioned to not have the roads paved, even though this was the plan. The same unpaved roads that wound up the sides of the mountains were the ones on which we entered.
The first thing that struck us was the endless rolling mountains of green that stretched out before us as we drove. The expanse seemed endless, and pictures didn't do it justice. We were scheduled to stay at a 4 star hotel for that night, and as we drove up to the resort worthy hotel, we couldn't believe that this didn't have all five.
The rooms were absolutely gorgeous and pristine. The pillows and blankets were super fluffy, there were carpeted floors, and the bathroom sported both an oversize bathtub and a spiffy shower. This shower filled the bottom with water, so your feet were standing in water while you took your normal shower. The room also had rocking chairs to pull out on your balcony/patio, depending on what level your room was on. We got the ground floor, which was preferable as people would congregate outside and it was easy to just go out and meet up with them.
What was particularly amazing was the view. A look out your window brought you face to face with the same rolling, gorgeous, green mountains we saw as we were driving. The view was breathtaking, and I spent all my free time sitting outside, either on the rock outside our room or on a rocking chair, as did other members of our group. No matter how many photos we took, it wasn't the representation we wanted of the spectacular view.
