Walking in Monteverde

27 February 2009

I couldn’t tell today’s story with just three pictures. So, I’m using 6.

Walking in Monteverde is a microcosm of our experience of Costa Rica.


Before coming here, I had this fantasy that in Monteverde I’d be able to take my daily walks along interesting trails through forests. The reality is this: all nice trails, one must pay to use, from $8 per entry at Bajo del Tigre (the closest) to $17 at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. And both of the major reserves (Monteverde and especially Santa Elena) are too far away to use for my daily walking, anyway.

So, instead, like all of the locals, I walk along the road.

There is one main road that connects Santa Elena (where it is paved) with Monteverde (where it is unpaved). We live a few hundred m up a dirt road off of the main dirt road (left). My daily walking choices start with the key option: do I head toward Santa Elena or toward Monteverde? Most of the time, I choose the latter, where there are lovely views (below) and peaceful side roads (right). But all of the side roads are only functional -- they lead to houses in Monteverde and there they die. As seems to be the case throughout CR, the roads are unsigned, and one cannot tell in advance whether one is entering a private driveway that will terminate in a house 200 m away or instead (as is true in at least a few cases) one can wander along the road for up to a mile, passing by many houses and fields along the way.



Inevitably, I spend a lot of time on the main road. Heading toward Santa Elena, there is only a narrow shoulder to walk along until one reaches the town, 1.5 miles away. The traffic is heavier in that direction and everything is more developed.

Heading toward Monteverde, there are irregular patches of paths alongside the road, some of which are quite well done (left). But in many places, one must walk on the dirt road, which is barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass one another (right). Sometimes the cars, buses, trucks, taxis, and motorcycles travel too fast for my comfort. And then, especially as one approaches the Cloud Forest, there is the mud (below).



Yesterday, I walked to Santa Elena. We were having one of those cloudless misty rain days, although, in this case, the source of the rain was clear — it was being generated along the ridgeline and strong winds were pushing it down the mountain into town. I wear an A’s cap to keep the sun off my face and to keep my glasses dry. But with the strong and gusty winds it’s a real challenge to keep the cap on my head. Yesterday, as I returned from SE, I was walking into a strong mist-filled wind and my front side was getting soaked and a little chilled. My glasses were covered with water spots. Simultaneously, the sun was cooking my backside, which was dry and in the lee.

Writing this all, it seems like I'm grousing. Maybe I am. But the feeling I have is that CR is an interesting and yet a challenging place to be, at least in the way that we’ve chosen to be here, and my walks are a miniature reflection of those larger challenges.