First Day in Monteverde, Costa Rica!
- Tanya Y
- May 21, 2023
- 2 min read
Friday, May 19, 2023.
Today was the start of our second weekend trip in Costa Rica! In the morning, Elizabeth, Samantha, Ambrea, and I ate cereal with dried cranberries and nuts for breakfast. Afterwards, we headed to the bus stop to meet Cho, our driver, and Angie, our tour guide, and the rest of the group to head to Monteverde. It was a long drive, so we made a quick stop at El Jardin, where I bought some souvenirs for my family. I visited their mini farm where they had longhorns, horses, chickens, peacocks, and also a butterfly garden. I saw three different kinds of butterflies; the Blue Morpho (blue on one side and on the other side it looks like they have owl eyes), Monarchs (orange and black colors), and Malachites (green and black).
When we arrived to Monteverde we headed directly for lunch at Laggus, which was a very modern two-story restaurant with balconies overlooking a pond and a beautiful view of the mountains. I had a delicious chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries and a watermelon drink.
After a delicious lunch, we received a guest lecture by one of the owners of Life Monteverde. Don Guillermo covered topics about conservation efforts in Costa Rica, history of the families in Monteverde and issues currently affecting not only this country but also the entire world. It was a pleasure listening to him as he was quite knowledgeable and gave us advice on how to “walk the talk” when we return back to campus.
After the lecture, he gave us a tour of his farm animals, his greenhouse, and his coffee plantation. At the end of the tour he had us try different samples of coffee and try to guess the differences between them. I am not a big coffee person so this was a challenge, but because of this experience I learned a lot about the roasting process of coffee beans and I found out I prefer a darker roast over a lighter roast. They had a small souvenir shop as well so many of us bought coffee from them to bring back home and other local items like soap and cacao beans.
After the lecture, we checked in at El Establo Mountain Hotel. We had a beautiful view from our rooms, we could see the mountains and all the greenery outside, and later at night we could even see the shining stars. After settling in, we took a shuttle to the same restaurant as earlier to have dinner. I had chicken breast with vegetables and others had beef tenderloins. Following dinner, a large group of us met at Marquetta’s room to play Taco Cat and a very fun game of Mafia.
Today was a great day and I cannot wait to see what other adventures we go on!!
Tanya
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