A lot of my friends and I went to Monte de la Cruz, it's this hiking area only 30-40minutes by bus from our university. It was so beautiful. It's in the mountains so the air was so great. So fresh, so cool, so not the typical nasty city air. It was invigorating. We walked for about an hour and a half on this trail that lead to our destination. The trail had so many different elements from walking on rocks, mud, water, crossing bridges, and more. It was great. Our final destination was this little place up in the mountains that has been turned into this tiny little getaway by this man name Jose I think. He has a great little set up with the ability to house people and offer meals. It was really cool. He showed us some of his prized Costa Rican possessions and we got to learn a lot about his life (vietnam vet, lived in LA for 20 years, supposedly has met Jennifer Lopez because she came to his retreat...supposedly Bill Gates did too). I haven't decided if I believe him yet.
We arrived at this place and sat down under the sheltered picnic area and ate our lunches. Then Jose offered us this trail that he and his workers have cleared in the woods. It was so cool. Some parts had hand ropes that you had to use to kind of repel yourself down a steep hill, our guide also told us some cool stuff about the animals and plants as well. When we finished the trail we went to the waterfall that somehow Jose has some financial power over. People are charged $4 dollars to see it (that also includes the trail we did). I didn't have my swimsuit so I didn't get to go swimming in it, but my friends did. It was super cold, but so beautiful. I want to go back so I can dive in just like they did. So beautiful.
After we hung around the waterfall for about an hour we headed back to Jose and talked with him for awhile about random things. My friends put some dry clothes on, stopped shivering, and we were off again. We hiked back down the mountain and got caught in a heavy downpour of rain for about 30minutes until our bus came. It was completely worth it. We walked about 12-13 miles today. It was wonderful. The whole experience was so cool because it's not touristy at all. You can't even look up info about this place online. It's hardly touched by tourists, and it's incredible.
Here are some photos (notice the change in scenery, and the changes in the trail we took!)
The signs says "Tapir Conservation Foundation"
A tapir is the animal in black
This photo is posed...I think I did a nice job of making it look like a real action shot though
Jose's land!
Jose!
Jose's artifact...it's a tapir skull.
These mysterious balls can be found throughout Costa Rica. People to this day have no idea what their significance is.
Waterfall
Buenas!
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