The Story Of Us

We arrived in Manuel Antonio on Christmas evening.. the change in temperature was extreme. It was extremely hot and humid. We checked into our hotel Hotel La Posada and Jungle. It was a simple hotel steps away from the park and the beach. Here in Manuel Antonio it was all about the location for us and the location of this hotel could not get any better. We dropped off our things and walked to the Buru restaurant for dinner.  We spent 3 full days in Manuel Antonio. This post will talk about the first two.  The first day we left bright and early for our first adventure. Horseback riding to the Nauyaca Waterfalls. We had booked this experience a few weeks before departing. The waterfall was an hours drive from Manuel Antonio. There are three ways to reach the falls, a 7 mile round trip hike on rugged and muddy terrain, a 4x4 vehicle or horseback riding. There is a fee for the hike and upon seeing the terrain there was no way we could have ever done that, everyone we passed was huffing and

After leaving La Fortuna we headed to Monteverde. It was a very rough and bumpy 3 hour drive from La Fortuna. Not pleasant at all.  Monteverde is most famous for its cloud forests. Cloud forests occur within tropical mountainous areas where there is consistent cover of clouds or fog. The constant moisture produces tremendous biodiversity. The Monteverde and Santa Elena Reserves boast 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity.          Also of note is, current day Monteverde was founded by Quakers from the United States whose pacifist values led them to defy the American draft before the Korean War. These Quakers and pacifists chose the area for its cool climate, which would facilitate dairy farming, the country's non-violent, army-free constitution, and its friendly Costa Rican inhabitants. The Quakers stewarded and farmed a large tract of land, part of which they eventually set aside for conservation, today the Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde (Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological