---

At this point you might start to notice a common theme in my travel posts. It’s pretty obvious we have fallen head over heels in love with Costa Rica, traveling there 4 times now in just under a year and a half. We even have dreams to build a house there one day. #lifegoals

For this trip, we chose to travel there for a week during the rainy season, where it’s sunny in the morning to early afternoon and starts raining around 4pm. The dates we chose were June 30th to July 7th. I really like this time of year in Costa Rica because everything is so lush and green, but you still get plenty of sun for daytime activities. As always, we visited our beloved Ostionial, San Juanillo, and Nosara—all within a 20 minute driving radius on the Nicoya Pennisula. We booked a beautiful house for five days high up in the jungle with an ocean view above San Juanillo. For the tail end of our trip, we decided to drive to Monte Verde to experience the cloud forest and floating bridges.

I’ll only share a few highlights from these first five days since I already wrote more in-depth posts about the Nosara area. You can check them out here:  One week in Costa Rica (Dry Season)  and One week in Costa Rica (Rainy Season).  The 2nd half of this post will be about Monte Verde. So scroll down if you want to skip right to it.

View from our rental house above San Juanillo 

Our first day into Nosara we discovered a new place to eat, The Gilded Iguana. I believe it was going through a re-model during our previous visits, so we didn’t notice it before.  I was so excited by its modern vibe and the fact that it offered freshly-grown produce and many vegan options. It quickly became a new favorite spot of ours, and I knew we would be visiting often while in Nosara. The food was amazing and fresh, and they offered large portions.

The Gilded Iguana is claimed as the original surfer spot in Nosara and is walking distance from one of the best beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Guiones. Apparently, it was the first structure built in Nosara, and had the first telephone in town. I guess it has changed a lot since it first opened in 1988. It’s now boasts a newly designed hotel and restaurant designed by acclaimed architect Benjamin Saxe.

Make sure you have an Imperial cerveza while you are there.

Vegan potato skins

Bruscetta

A photo in the hotel lobby of The Gilded Iguana.

We tried out a different place to get a massage on this trip.  Tika massage was recommended to us by friends who own a vacation home in Costa Rica, but we had never been there. I recommend booking one of the massage rooms above the reception desk, you have to climb a latter and it adds to the fun. If climbing a latter is not your thing, they have other rooms available on the ground floor. We got lucky too, because in the middle of our massages the sky opened up and hammered rain. The sound of the rain hitting the roof created the perfect vibe for a blissful meditative state. The women who work there have been there for many years and were very sweet and amazing. They truly have a gift.

Tica massage with the sweet women who work there.

Stopped to get a quick shot of Ostionial beach on our drive back to the house

Thunderstorms and friends. I love a good thunderstorm and tropical thunder storms never disappoint. They make me sleep like a baby. Most evenings when returning to our house, we would cook for friends or vise versa and enjoy the pool, food, good conversations, and thunder storms. Sometimes we would lose power for a few hours, but all the houses are usually equipped with candles and lanterns for such occasions. All part of the journey.

The storm ended, the power came back on, and we had a beautiful dinner and evening as always!

 

Monkeys and goodbyes.

We never leave Costa Rica without a visit from our Howler monkey friends. On this trip we heard them every morning and evening deep in the jungle, but we hadn’t seen them until our last day. As we were packing up to leave for Monte Verde, I mentioned to my husband that I was sad that they didn’t come in closer to at least say goodbye. Moments later our friends from a mile down the road called to tell us the monkeys were at their place. We drove down and received the most amazing send off from our monkey friends, a large group of females and their young. My cup a runneth over.

2 nights in Monte Verde (6 must things to do)

I have to admit it was hard to leave the jungle, the view, the beaches, the monkeys, and our friends, but it was time for a new adventure and to expand our knowledge of Costa Rica.

It took us around 3 1/2 hours to drive to Monte Verde from San Juanillo. The ride up, alone, is enough to satisfy any adventure seeking craving I might have. There were seriously moments towards the end of the drive that you think you can’t go any higher and then you do. But it’s all worth it once the amazing cloud forest reveals itself. We finally arrived in the small mountain town and set out to find our VRBO rental. Luckily the owner of the house also owned Hotel Belmar and had arranged for us to pick up the keys there in the lobby. Hotel Bellmar had a beautiful lobby and bar/restuarant with an outside patio that was very inviting. I was ready to sit on the patio, order some food, and call it a night, but the hubs convinced me to get to our house and then venture into town to get a lay of the land.

Our house in Monte Verde for two nights

The house was beautiful, but a little creepy for our taste. We both decided that horror films could be filmed there. We were only there for 2 nights so we made the best of it. We managed to do a lot in our short time in Monte Verde and below is a list of our top 6 favorite things we did while we were there.

1. Eat at Taco Taco

When I was doing my research on Monte Verde a few other bloggers mentioned Taco Taco and it defiantly spiked my curiosity. While walking around town we asked a few locals where to eat and they all said, Taco Taco, but I thought it was just a taco stand and, after driving most of the day, I was in the mood for a sit down dinner situation. We decided to check it out anyways and to our surprise, Taco Taco had expanded into a nice indoor sit-down restaurant with outdoor tables as well. There was a DJ and a cool vibe. There were actually a few Americans there and my husband even commented on how strange it was to hear people speaking English. They had a lot of vegan options, so I got the fried avocado burrito and a jalapeño margarita. The burrito was huge and the margarita was spicy. Yum. I would say the food was good, filling, and moderately priced, but I enjoyed the atmosphere the most. Note. It can be tricky to find because its down a hill and behind the buildings on the main drag. Just ask some locals and they will point you in the right direction.

 

2.Visit the Selvatura Park hanging bridges

The hanging bridges were the main reason I wanted to visit Monte Verde. I had seen so many awesome photos of long suspended bridges hanging in the middle of the clouds. I thought how frightening it would be to hang high above the treetops on a suspended bridge, and that’s when I knew I had to experience it. FEAR get out of my way. We had already zip lined in Nosara earlier that year, so I felt like after that I could do just about anything. The cool thing is that you can experience the park without a guide and take it at your own speed. You just pay to get in, they give you map, and you are on your own. Don’t worry the trails are very well marked and you just follow along. Also make sure to wear a hat or bring some kind of rain jacket. They also sell rain ponchos in the gift shop. We purchased two but never needed them.

So beautiful there.

3. Visit the hummingbird garden at Selvatura Park

While you are already visiting the park for the hanging bridges, pay the small extra fee to visit the hummingbird garden. You won’t be sorry. This was a definite highlight for me. Hundreds of tiny semi-tame hummingbirds zooming around your head. When do you ever get that close to these little wonders? My husband and I would close our eyes and just listen to all their little wings buzzing by.

4. Go off roading

As you walk around the Monte Verde you will notice a ton of shops that sell experiences, such as off roading in buggies. Check with your hotel, as they can most likely book your experiences. This was an absolute blast. Just prepare to get muddy.

5. Eat at Hotel Belmar

By far my favorite meal. Hotel Bellmar not only offers a beautiful restaurant and bar, but also has several vegan options to choose from. I had a vegetable curry dish that was to die for. Plus after a week in Costa Rica, I was dying for a white table cloth and a fine-dining experience. There was 3 piece instrumental group playing live in the background that really set the tone for a romantic meal. If you don’t have time for dinner, at least stop by for a tea, coffee, or cocktail on their beautiful outside patio looking down the mountain. Oh… and Hotel Bellmar also has an excellent gift shop and juice bar right across the street. We grabbed a delicious juice there on our way out of Monte Verde.

 

 

6. Experience an authentic Costa Rican coffee

You cannot leave Monte Verde without grabbing a delicious Costa Rican coffee. Our favorite spot for this was Choco cafe. We ate breakfast there every morning during our stay. Not only was their coffee amazing, but the staff was super friendly and quite artistic with their foam.

One thing I wished we had time for was the nighttime guiding walking tour through the forest. We talked to other travelers who had done it and they saw many interesting animals, including a sloth. I have yet to see a sloth in Costa Rica. Maybe next trip. Fingers crossed.

Also the coffee and chocolate tours I found interesting and wished we had a little more time to go on one.

All and all Monte Verde was definitely a must-see experience. I enjoyed every second of it. But for me it’s a “been there done that” kind of feeling. It has a more touristy feel, and I prefer the beaches, jungles, and the feeling of seclusion that being near the coast offers.

For the next trip to Costa Rica I want to explore the Caribbean side. So stay tuned and pure vida!

 

The morning we left Monte Verde this beautiful rainbow was out side our rental house.

 

2