Exploring MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA! (CLOUD FOREST & ZIP LINES)

Hola, bienvenidos! Welcome to beautiful Monteverde. Buenos dias, good morning country collectors. As you can see we have traded in our swimsuits for some warmer clothing as we have found ourselves here in the lush mountainous highland town of Monteverde, Costa Rica. It's one of the most visited places in the country for good reason and we can't wait to show you around. But before we get started make sure to hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so you don't miss out on any of our future adventures. All right let's do this. Oh hello, you're probably wondering why are you a flower and also how did you get here? From Santa Teresa we took a shuttle on tropical tourist shuttles for $60 each. They offer one shuttle daily at 6 45 a.m to Monteverde and it takes about six hours to get here. You are the cutest flower I ever did see. Thank you. We were planning on taking local transport here but the day we traveled was my sister's remembrance day, the day she passed, so I just wanted to have a nice easy day. But if you choose to do that you'll save about $45 each but you're going to tack on a few more hours to your ride. I will in the description put a link to you know the logistics and the timing and the buses. You're going to take about three buses and then a ferry from Paquera to Punta Arenas and we actually did that with our travel as well which I just love. The ferry kind of broke up our travel time and made it seem a lot shorter. We're staying right here at Hostel Sloth Backpackers which is located in the town of Santa Elena which seems to be the usual base when exploring this area and guess what we got ourselves a private room. After two weeks of being in dorms we just needed this and it's been so nice. It's $34. It has a double bed, bunk beds, a large private bathroom with hot water which you need here because it gets a bit chilly. Downstairs there's a shared kitchen and included in the rate is also breakfast. After we checked in they told us all about the tours that are offered in the area and even booked us two that we're going to be showing you in just a little bit. They also gave us this very cool map right here that is super detailed and includes prices, times, and things to do. Right here you can see this highlighted triangle. This is like the downtown of Santa Elena. That's where a lot of the businesses and restaurants can be found but as you can see there's a lot more just sprawled out before and leading to the cloud forest here in Monte Verde. Just one thing if you're looking for a quiet like mountainous you know getaway I would recommend staying outside of this area because it is quite loud. It's Sunday right now so it's a little more tranquil than normal but normally there are just motorcycles like zooming by here so if you're gonna stay here definitely bring your earplugs. All right let's go check out town a little bit. Come along. And I'm calling copyright infringement here. This was my pun first. Spectacular. That is mine. I want it back. No I'm just kidding. They can use it. I'm not really mad. Well maybe just a little. Let's keep going. And just up the street from our hostel as you turn onto the main road is the Chamber of Tourism. It's a great place to come in get some info about the area. They can even book you some tours if you're looking for them. They're really friendly in there and they even had free wi-fi. Oh they did? They did. There you go. And in this area you will find many hostels, restaurants, grocery stores, cafes, souvenir shops, ATMs, tour operators, and more. Behind me here is Gustico's. Right now there's nobody at it. Every other time we've been by it has been absolutely packed so it's pretty safe to assume they probably have some great food and drinks. But there is a place right down here that we do know has some great food so let's go check it out together. Behind me here is Raulito's and I can honestly say they have the best rotisserie chicken we have ever had. It's big and plump tender and juicy on the inside. They put rosemary so it just had this really nice flavor and it came with two tortillas, this sweet chimichurri salsa, as well as some garlic aioli. If you like chicken this is a place you have to pop in. Just next to Raulito's is the Santa Elena Church. It's the main church in town. It was built in 1945 and expanded in 1980. And right across the street is the Treehouse Restaurant, aptly named as there is this giant fig tree growing in the center of it. It seems like quite a popular place. There's a lot of character, a lot of different rooms where you can sit. And in the front here if you sit at one of the tables closer to the glass it has a great view of the downtown. So when you're here you might as well check it out. Another place we really enjoyed was Jimenez. We came here for lunch the other day and got a couple of quesados. I went with the pork and Heidi got the chicken. It came with the usual suspects. They also have a panaderia where you can pick up some nice sweet breads and other pastries. And another selling point, they open at So if you're an early riser this is probably one of the only places that's open in town then. So just keep that in mind and come up here and get yourself some delicious treats. And some coffee. Speaking of coffee, if you're a fan Costa Rica is the place for you. Get in as much as you can while you're here. Right now we are at Cafe Manta Verde and they serve up a mean cup of joe. All their coffee is locally sourced and the majority comes from their family farm which is just 10 minutes from here. You can take tours and really get to appreciate what coffee means. We actually did one of those when we were in Mexico and i've never looked at coffee the same or tasted the same way. So if you have a chance definitely sign up for this tour. And while i was ordering my coffee i couldn't help but notice this giant delicious looking cinnabon right here. I mean it's huge. It weighs like a pound. Let's jump into it. Wow. Cinnabon, you better watch out. This is gooey, warm, cinnamon-errific and i am just loving it. We're gonna finish up the coffee and this delicious little tree and then we're gonna go on an adventure. So one of the main draws of this area are the beautiful natural surroundings and no trip is complete without checking out the Manta Verde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. We actually got to go there yesterday and it was so much fun. So let's hop back in time right now and enjoy this diverse destination together. Whoa. Good morning. We hope you're ready to keep those peepers peeping people because we're about to be exploring a 26,000 acre forest. We've heard that it contains over 2,500 species of plants including 420 orchids. I had no idea there were that many. I And today we're gonna see all of them. You're crazy. Fingers crossed. But I do hope we can see the quetzal. I think that would just be amazing. That would be so cool especially after all that we learned about in the Mexican and Guatemalan history. I'd love that. And along with all these insects, frogs and monkeys, supposedly there's also some big wild cats there like pumas and jaguars. They are quite elusive but we can keep our fingers crossed. I mean it would be perfectly amazing if we spotted some though. Oh my gosh. It's a little early for that don't you think? But we are just here at our hostel. We're waiting for the shuttle service. It starts at 7 a.m and runs every hour I believe until 1. You do need to make a reservation though so we had Mauricio who works here. He called them yesterday and set it up for us so we have a little code. He's a real sweetheart too. Yeah he really is. So we are gonna head down there now and wait for it so come with us. And while we're waiting for the shuttle I just wanted to mention a day pass into the reserve is $25 so you can just go in and hike around on your own. We were recommended to do a tour with a professional guide. That's $45 and includes your entrance. They're going to be able to point out stuff and educate us on things that we didn't know so I think it's going to be wonderful. Alright we're just waiting for the shuttle. We're gonna hop in it and then we'll see you over there. We have arrived. Welcome to Monte Verde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. With the temperature up here it's a bit cool but it feels so nice and we are just surrounded by this greenery and I'm seeing all these birds fly over already. These little chirping noises. I am so excited. Adam is inside right now just waiting to check in and then we are gonna get this party started. We just met our guide Herman and he said we were gonna do a safety briefing but they saw white-faced monkeys just nearby so he's like let's do it along the way and try to catch those. Yay! This is exciting already. Check it out. We are just like smiling ear to ear. It's so beautiful here. It's quiet. It's peaceful. Everything is green. There's that wonderful forest dirt kind of smell in the air. Yeah and it's a little chilly like I said earlier so definitely bring some layers and you're gonna want to bring like a raincoat or poncho because as we are in the cloud forest it can precipitate at any time. Oh precipitate at any time. I like that. So no monkey we got to this platform here and like nature does you know it just moves along. I mean he probably had a different date to be on. Yeah I mean he's got a full day right. He's really cute with that white face. So we just stopped here and we were looking out. We're actually mingling with a group from Utah. They are students and they're studying tropical ecology and there's some twitchers is that what you call them? Yep. Yeah they love you know they're birders so we just stopped here we saw some hummingbirds. How many did he say are here in Costa Rica? They have 35 different species here yeah. But eight here in the park and earlier I said it's 26,000 acres and he said 8,000 so yeah you got some info mixed up but yeah so far we're just really enjoying it. The group just went ahead so let's go catch up. And we realized that you know these birds are so tiny we're not able to capture them for you because we don't have a big telephoto lens like all these birders up here. Or even just binoculars which they do rent in that main office when we were checking in. This one lady has binoculars that she's taking photos through. So cool. Yeah we'll have to pick some of those up. And Armand was also saying that this reserve has over 2.5 percent of the world's biodiversity and over 50 percent of Costa Rica's which is just incredible. And if you decide not to get a tour they do have these placards all around the park that are in both Spanish and English so you can get some information about what you're seeing and the actual reserve that we're in. And out of all the forests in the world only one percent are designated as cloud forests. So this place is very special. Something we just learned though is that due to climate change and other factors they're actually thinking about declassifying it as a cloud forest and making it a rain forest. Yeah because they're seeing a lot more precipitation and not a lot of that dense fog you know that we were expecting when we were here but yeah that's just nature unfortunately. Yeah and I guess it's also because of the temperature change they're getting new species here like mosquitoes and a false vampire bat that are actually starting to affect the endemic species here like the quetzal. Their nests are being pillaged by these new animals so it's kind of affecting them even being in the park itself. Yeah he said last year they were seeing quite a few but this year they're just seeing like one or three a day which unfortunate. I really wanted to see one. And right now he just pointed out that there's this like odor in the air. It's like it kind of and it is a little stinky and he said that's probably because there's wild pigs in the area. Pretty neat. And oh my gosh right in front of me is a wild pig. And look at this. I found a little friend in the tree. So cute and he even has better hair than I do. I'm a little bit jealous but you know what. He stole his toupee. Oh that looks good. That's my toupee. It looks good. Yeah. Sorry buddy. I'm taking this to go. We just got to see a tarantula. It was like this big. It's inside of a hole so you kind of have to get your face right up to it which makes it even scarier. Yeah and inside it was the like carcass of the male because she ate him. Man used and abused. And while we're out here enjoying this beautiful environment we would love to give a shout out to our new patrons. Margot Peck, Shannon Sonny, Karen, Maggie, Marley and Chris. Hi guys and thank you so so much for your support. Honestly what a special day and it's because of you that we're able to do this and share this with our entire community. So muchas gracias from the bottom of our hearts. Yeah this is all dedicated to you and if you would like to join our Patreon community we'll put the link in the description below. All right let's keep having some fun. Right now we are heading to the Continental Divide. I'm sure Adam wishes it was the continental breakfast. Oh that's a good one babe. And he just spotted here behind us there's a colibri or hummingbird on its nest. It's big. We would have never seen it without him. How big are the eggs? They must be like that big. So cute. You can eat like a million of them. Wow we are out on this suspension bridge over the forest floor walking through like the tops of the trees. And the sky is so blue. Yeah I think we lucked out and got a great day here for weather. Oh we're going under it. I love it. Thanks so much for being here with us. How's that for a little excitement? It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that didn't keep me in suspense. You knew that was coming. Our tour just ended and it was so much fun and super informative so we definitely recommend doing that. It's just so nice to get back to nature whenever you get the opportunity to. Just outside of the entrance you are going to find a restaurant with a great view of the forest, a souvenir shop and most importantly the banyo which we suggest you use before going in for your tour because there aren't any once you actually enter the park. And there's also a lodge so you can stay here right on site and we also recommend keeping your receipt because you are able to go in and out all day long but you do have to show your receipt so they can give you a card so you can enter. That'd be so convenient. You leave stuff in your car if you drive here and just come in and out whenever you need to. Just outside by the parking lot there's also a hummingbird gallery as well as a cafe that I hear has some delicious pastries so I think we're gonna go and check that out right now. Yeah come with us. Check this out. There are hummingbirds buzzing around us everywhere. Up here they have probably like six different feeders and we saw big purple ones. There's medium-sized green ones and the little one we saw in the nest with the brown on it. This is just like my favorite part of today. It's so magical. I think we're gonna be up here for a couple of hours and then maybe go back into the park to see if we can see some more animals today but you definitely have to come up there. I mean check this out. There's like three of them right there. We just got over to Cafe Colibri and not only do they have delicious cappuccino and my Neapolitan right here. They also have more hummingbird feeders and they're just like coming and going. They're sitting on the branches in front watching us. I wonder if they think the same thing. We're like oh they're so pretty and they're here going like oh look at all these weird looking humans sitting here in my house. That one doesn't have any hair. That one doesn't have any feathers. Oh poor guy. This is probably my favorite part of the whole thing. I know Heidi mentioned that but it's so cool being up close with nature like this. Yeah and you can hear their wings flapping. It's so special. And we stepped back over here. We've noticed that the bus tour left because this place was crowded this morning. Now there's just a few of us here so we're really getting to enjoy this. Just so peaceful watching them just get some of that nectar. I'm like they must have a sugar high. Maybe that's why their wings go so fast. Oh but yeah you gotta come up here. Absolutely incredible. Hey hey we got a coati. That was our mammal for today. They like raccoons but different. I think they're just they're really cool looking. Actually over in the cafe it said do not feed them because they can be quite aggressive and there was a picture of somebody's hand with like a bite out of it. So just be careful as always keep your distance. It's so hard peeling ourselves away from here. I'm like begrudgingly going down these steps here. It's so hard to say goodbye to hummingbirds. They're just so damn cute. I know they bring us so much joy but we're gonna head back into the park and just see what we can find. What's that? Oh I was being a hummingbird. We're gonna see what we can find. If we see anything we will let you know. But for now let's head back into town. Welcome back. After we left you guys we actually did a little more hiking and went down to a waterfall. It was so beautiful, so green and just so peaceful. And somebody while we were there they showed us a picture of a quetzal and they're like it's just down this path go down there it's sitting on the branch. So we like ran, hooked it over there. And when we got there someone was like oh it just left about two minutes ago you just missed it. I see you you're playing hard to get quetzal. I got you right here. Actually we don't see you. But next time we are locking this down. And we wanted to say like as much diversity as we saw we didn't see as many blooming flowers as we would have liked. But luckily right next to our hostel is the Monteverde Orchid Garden. So why don't we head over there and learn some more about these beautiful flowers. Sounds like an orchid-rific time. Sorry they're not all gems people. Welcome to the orchid garden. Entrance is $16 each and includes a 45-minute guided tour. During the tour we learned that there are more than 1,640 species of orchids in Costa Rica with more being discovered every year and that Monteverde is the best place in the country to find them. Here in the garden there are 500 species to be found 400 of which are from Monteverde. Not all bloom at once but around a hundred bloom at a time. And we even got to see the smallest orchid in the world as well as other miniature ones. One of my favorite was the hummingbird orchid. As you can see it looks just like a hummingbird and it smells like cinnamon. We also got to see the orchid that is Costa Rica's national flower the guaria morada which blooms in February, March, and April once a year for a short time. And in the greenhouse they also had an albino one which was very rare. Oh and the spider orchid was so cool too. It really looks like a spider doesn't it? Well that was a nice relaxing activity. We hope you guys enjoyed it. But right now I think it's time to amp things up. If you're an adrenaline junkie and love zip lines you'll be happy to know that Santa Elena is where they originated here in Costa Rica. So if you're looking to push your limits get out of your comfort zone and just cruise through the canopy and feel the wind on your face then this is the place for you. Let's head over there. Welcome to Extremo Park. This adventure park has a lot of different offerings like a big tarzan swing, bungee jumping, and a canopy tour. We're going to be doing the canopy tour this morning with you which consists of 11 zip lines, rappel, a subterranean superman zip line. The only one in the world I might add. And much more. It also included transport all for 55 dollars. Are you guys ready to take the longest canopy tour in Costa Rica coming in at 2.7 miles? Yes? No? Well we're doing it anyway. Get ready for a zippity doo-dah day. Oh Adam. We're just going to go head inside and check in and then grab our equipment. We're going to head out to those zips. We'll see you there. We just got our instructions. You can hear the first people zipping right now. The excitement is in the air. Remember keep your legs crossed one hand back just with a little ring over the actual line and the other one holding onto the carabiner. I'm also going to be holding the gopro so we're going to see how that goes. But let's head up and start zipping. We are literally up here in the canopy and I am next. All right let's do this. Oh there she goes. Yeah. And we're already off on the next one. That was quick. One and two and quite intense. Yeah we're already at number three and I believe this one is the double. Oh double the pleasure, double the fun. How was that? That was awesome. So fast. Yeah that was a good one. And you know for me that was like any other day carrying the weight of Adam on my back. Yeah it's true, it's true. He's the best. And as you can see we're hiking up a little bit now. They call this the waterfall trail and I will just say the name Extremo. This is extreme for sure. So if you're looking for that heart pumping adrenaline activity, definitely recommend coming here. And this is number four here you can hear Adam coming on through. And we made it number five already. Let's get to it. Coming in hot. Coming in hot. All right Adam number six how you feeling? Oh man I feel great. See you later. Wow that one was crazy. The view went on forever. And yeah I asked if it was the longest one and he was like no. Even though it looks like it should have been the longest one. I felt like it was like five minutes long you were just going and going. Wow. Okay let's keep going. Ready chicos? Ready. The cable is possible together. Oh we're together. We got another one together. Nice to meet you chicos. Nice to meet you too. Here? Okay. All right. Here comes the monkey. I feel like a head rush. It goes so fast. Yeah. I feel like on that one I forgot to breathe because when we got to the platform and I stood up I was super light-headed. But look at this that I just saw. Adam check that out. Oh look at all these leaf cutter ants. They're just such so cool. Get to have some extreme and some nature. Yeah. And I know we are flying literally through the canopy but I feel like we're just flying through this canopy too or two. It's like boom boom boom boom boom. So try to I don't know take your time a little bit when you're walking and really take in this natural environment because it is so beautiful. And from the last one to our next zip line we've been hiking straight up maybe like five minutes so far. So it is quite physical here as well. You're not just zipping canopy to canopy you know. You're having to do some work so just keep that in mind. Wow we made it babe. We made it babe. Now it's more time more time for zippity doo Diane. Keep it coming keep it coming. All right so he said the next one is the longest. It's one kilometer. Man I am whipped drenched through my vest. Yeah. Out of breath but we're almost there. Yeah look how high we are. You can see the clouds in the mountains. The view is incredible. Yeah but it is it's very physical. We have just switched our equipment around. We're going to be doing the superman right now. Or superwoman. Or excuse me superwoman. I'm so excited. We're going to be flying face forward so come with us. All right Adam. Yeah baby let's do it. Here he goes. Check it out. Lay down little by little. All right it's time to lay down. Oh it's so uncomfortable. I need to put my feet in. Seems like some sort of torture trap. Ready? Yes. It's so good I'm crying. Because of the wind? Both. Oh yeah because of the speed. Yeah. Literal tears streaming from my eyes because of the speed of that. Wow that was the most intense yet. I was going so fast that I actually squished a bug on my face. You were like a windshield. That's right. Cute windshield. Poor thing. Rest in peace little buddy. We are doing the subterranean superman now. We're going through a tunnel. Okay. I'm from Michigan. Michigan USA. Yeah. Yeah. You too? Okay. From Monteverde. Oh wow. Okay. Here we go. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. There he is. It's Clark Kent. And check it out. We got a little Tarzan swing up here. Let's go. So I've just seen or I should correct myself. I've just heard about four people go. They jumped off of this swing here. So I'm a little apprehensive but really excited. I hope that you guys are ready for this because there is no backing out now. Let's go. We're already up the steps. That's right. We already took the first step. We're up here on this platform just watching everybody do this Tarzan swing and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing because it's kind of like freaking me out. It builds the anticipation. But then psyching me up too. For sure. And one thing to mention while we're here and cooling off a bit from the breeze. If you don't want to feel like you're working out in a plastic bag, don't wear a raincoat. I know it was it was a tough balance because you can't bring a bag with you. So if you want stuff you need pockets that zip. Yeah. So the biggest tip would be wear something with pockets that zip so you don't have to wear a winter vest or a raincoat when you don't need them and you're just sweating needlessly. Yeah drenched. Drenched. But yes we just have a few more people to go and then it's our turn. Oh it's extremo. So it looks like right now they are strapping you in. They kind of let you suspend a little bit and then they slide the floor out from beneath you. So you're just waiting for the guy that he's holding onto a rope just to let go and you're just free to fall. It's crazy. It is crazy but it also kind of takes that decision making out of your hands. So it's like once you cross that point once they pull the steps back you are committed. All right I'm almost done. I'm really nervous now. I was trying to play it cool but my heart's pumping but I know I can do this. You're here with me and I believe in myself so we got this. Oh my gosh. Oh the platform just came out. How do you feel? I'm scared. What did you say? Don't let anyone treat you like free salsa. You're guacamole baby! You are guacamole baby. Whoa. Same thing happened when I bungee jumped. I started crying. Wow. Those emotions they just hit you. I guess it's because we feel alive in these in these times. That was incredible. Thanks for being here again. All right we're doing this. Okay bro are you up here? Great. Country collectors baby. Let's do it. What did you say? Country collectors. Holy poop. Whoa. Wow. This is incredible. What a view. Tell us how you're feeling. I'm adjusting my helmet. I'm so shaking a little bit. That was so much fun. They like they're like oh wait wait wait at the top they were holding me and I'm like okay ready to go. Ready to go. I'm not even my hands out and they were like bye. I'm sure you'll see it on my face. I'm like ah. That was yeah. Was that your favorite part of today? It was and when you like swing out and you can look out and actually see like the bungee jumping which also looks out past into this incredible forest like just so beautiful. Definitely put this on the list. Wow what a day. This has been so much fun and adventure. Yeah we got back here and just peeled our clothes off. Peeled. We are so hot and tired. That definitely took it out of us like so much adrenaline. I think we're gonna go back today and just take a nap. Oh absolutely but totally. It's like that tired in the best kind of way. Yes but thank you so so much for joining us here in Santa Elena and Monte Verde. There are so many more activities that we didn't get to like night walks, coffee tours. Oh yeah the coffee tours looked fun. Yeah I feel like you could stay here. You can ATV around. There's horseback riding. They do a lot of fun stuff around here. Yeah it's a great place to be here in Costa Rica up in the highlands. Just you know it's fun to go to the beach but then it's nice to also go to places like like this where you see a lot of the nature and get to experience that side of the country. And get away from the humidity and heat for just a little bit. Yeah today not so much but the other days. So again thank you so so much. It would have been nowhere near as much fun if you hadn't been here to share it with. So thank you for that. Yeah if you enjoyed this video please give us a big thumbs up. Comment, subscribe and don't forget to ding-a-ling-a-ling the bell. We'll see you next time. Adios and Pura Vida!