so left la fortuna to head to monteverde......... took a jeep ride and then crossed the lake and then another jeep ride which took about an hour but felt sooo much more because the roads arent paved and it was so bumpy!! has taken me a little while to get used to the roads and driving here, most of them arent paved, the ticos (costa ricans) drive crazily and there are loads of hairpin bends and sheer drops!!

got to monteverde and got dropped at a hostel called la pension, was raining so i couldnt be bothered to look around so just went straight in there, best decision ever as the place is amazing and run by a couple of really friendly americans (or as the ticos say gringos!!). monteverde has 2 cloud rainforest reserves and the views all around the main town of santa elena are just breath taking. the 2nd day i was there i got up to go hiking in monteverde and do ziplining but that was the day the hurricane hit so they had to close the park!! came back and got chatting to an american girl who lives there and we then went out to some bars and the rest is a little hazy!!

within a couple of days i had become really close to one tico guy, diego, and a canadian girl, christie, that were staying there and we all hung out together. was just so nice to sit outside la pension and just watch the rain and the world go by. there are also a few ´stray´ dogs (that are very well fed and cared for haha) which are the cutest friendliest little things. theres one called carlitos who follows me around everywhere, when i go to the shops he waits outside bless him. have had a few crazy nights out, one with Christie where some how when we left the bars it was sunrise!! i decided to stay until christie left. on her last night we went out for lobster and huuuge shrimp and gorged ourselves stupid, she insisted on paying as it was the end of her trip, she said that a guy she met had done it for her when she first started and now ill have to do it when i meet someone at the end of my trip :)

the day that christie left i still couldnt bring myself to go...... there is soo much more of the country that i want to see but its a good excuse to come back :) spent the next week chilling out in the hammock, hiking and helping diego with his jewellery (he travels around costa rica making and selling the most beautiful handicrafts). there are so many amazing hikes to do around santa elena and each morning i would get up and head in a different direction. i found one tree that you could climb inside the trunk of and look all the way up the inside, was amazing. also if you walk about 4k out of town you reach a point where you can see right across the peninsula to the sea, completely stunning. has to be timed right tho as when the afternoon hits it gets very cloudy (hence the cloud rainforests!!), from my hostel you can sit and watch the cloud settling over the mountains and one of the most amzing views ive ever seen. i got taken to house on the edge of a cliff that is on the verge of falling, it wont last this rainy season but you could see right across the jungle to the coast, was unbelievable!

Santa Elena and Monteverde park were brilliant and there are suspended bridges that are right up in the canopy, but its a little scary!! i was lucky enough to get talking to an american biologist who is living in monteverde stuudying the affect of climate change on the cloud rainforest, so he took me around the reserve so i got an insider view! very scray and sad though..... he said that at the rate that the cloud rainforets are diminshing through climate change and humans, there will not be another generation of cloud rainforest biologists. i cant comprehend that :(

he was also arranged an emergency food drop to some of the towns that had been hit particularly badly by the hurricane so i got some rice, beans and baby food to donate. he said that i could have come to drop it but it was the day that i was leaving so that was a real shame, as that would have been such an experience.

i love this place and am so gutted to be leaving but Rio here i come!! :)