Monteverde: Selvatura Park & Coffee Tour
Previous: Monteverde Cloud Forest Next: Bogarin Trail & El Salto
Selvatura Park
February 18
After another excellent breakfast at the lodge we awaited our pre-arranged pick up for Selvatura Park, an eco-tourism adventure park. We purchased the Emerald Package at Selvatura Park. This includes the self-guided treetop walkways, the sloth habitat, and the butterfly garden. But, in a moment of questionable judgment two days prior, we decided to add the zip line canopy tour—because apparently walking peacefully through nature wasn’t quite enough. Our shuttle picked us up around 10:30 for our 11:00 entrance.
Selvatura Park Canopy Tour
Upon arrival we first did the zip line canopy tour. Though there were a lot of people, it wasn’t too crowded, and the operation is run very efficiently. We were fitted with our harnesses and helmets and were herded out to shuttles taking people to the orientation stage, and the first of 13 zip lines.
Flying through the cloud forest above the tree canopies was exhilarating. There was a fair amount of uphill walking between a few of the take-off platforms, though, and that was a bit unexpected and exhausting.
Near the final zip line was an option to do a Tarzan Swing, which is basically a very high rope swing where you must have a bit of faith as you leave the safety of a perfectly good platform. I did not opt to do this. I chose instead to do the camera work from down below for Em and our friends. I chose to do that even though I wanted very badly to pee my pants while dangling on a rope swing high above solid ground like a pendulum until gravity eventually did its thing, and a park employee could hopefully grab me by the legs to stop me before I threw up.
The video shows Emilie and Ann Tarzan Swinging
Well then, off to the final zip lines, including one over half-mile long! The best visual of this half-mile long zip line that we have is a little further down this page in a video taken from the Hanging Bridge Walk. Though unintentional, the Hanging Bridge video captures other people in the background, screaming as they fly through the air for half a mile. It was exhilarating.
Selvatura Park Sloth Habitat
It took us over two hours to do the zip line course which put us on a tight schedule to get some food and do the other things at the park before the last shuttle left the park for the hotels at 4:00. We had a very quick lunch at the park’s sit-down restaurant. They apparently are used to people being on a tight lunch schedule as they were highly accommodating and got our food out within minutes, and with a smile. We did lunch in about 20 minutes. Possibly a personal record for a sit-down lunch for 4. Then, off to the sloth habitat.
Upon entering the sloth habitat (basically a fully enclosed atrium) the first thing we saw was a sloth climbing about 10 feet above us. This was easily the best view of a sloth we had seen so far, let alone an active sloth. Unfortunately I picked this moment to forget how to use my camera and screwed up the video…rookie move! But I did get some pretty good pics.
From here we were on a scavenger hunt to find the 12 sloths hanging around the atrium flora.
We found 11 of them. This was a whole lot of fun, and a highlight of the trip since sloth-seeing was a prime objective of the trip…even if they weren’t exactly in the wild (see La Fortuna on the next page of the blog for our in-the-wild encounters!)
Selvatura Park Butterfly Garden
Next up was the excellent butterfly garden. This was inside an adjacent roofed atrium. There were a lot of very cool looking butterflies in here. Big, small, colorful, fluorescent, and artfully patterned butterflies were everywhere…though with varying levels of photogenic cooperation.
Like the sloth habitat there was a knowledgeable guide inside explaining things and answering questions which made us feel slightly more cultured and slightly less like we were just chasing bugs around. We spent about 30 minutes in each of the atriums. This left us a little over an hour to do the Hanging Bridge Walk. Em, Sue, and I headed to the trailhead while Ann opted for the Reptile and Amphibian Exhibit, which she said was excellent.
Selvatura Park Hanging Bridge Walk
The self-guided Hanging Bridge Walk consists of 2 miles of trail through the cloud forest, with 8 hanging bridges to cross.
The walking bridges range from 50-170 yards long…and they are not for the faint of heart, as these bridges do sway, and they are very high above the forest floor. The views and above-canopy perspectives however are tremendous.
Like some of the walks between the zip line platforms there are a few uphill climbs along the dirt trail, so we definitely broke a little sweat doing this. We completed the hanging bridge walk loop with 15 minutes to spare for the final shuttle back to the hotels. Catching up with Ann we awaited the shuttle. Selvatura Park was a packed 5-hours, and now we were ready for a short rest, and then finding dinner somewhere.
Ann found Clouds and Coffee Restaurant and Pizzeria online, located at the Hotel Don Taco, about 1 mile from our hotel. A $5 roller coaster taxi ride later we arrived at the quirky restaurant/hotel. It was here where we discovered that Costa Rica does pizza very well! Though not a large space, this place seemed a bit chaotic. I think we had four different staff tending to us along the way, but it was well run with very friendly service and, most importantly, excellent pizza. A good find!
After dinner we called it a night. Em and I prepared for the departure to La Fortuna, and our coffee and chocolate tour the following morning.
Off to bed.
Don Juan Coffee and Chocolate Tour
February 19
After enjoying our final great breakfast at Mitzli Lodge we packed the car and set out for La Fortuna, only about 50 miles away, but a 3-hour drive! That alone defines driving the forest roads from city to city in Costa Rica.
To be sure we were properly caffeinated for the ride we first stopped off at the nearby Don Juan Coffee and Chocolate tours. This was a spontaneous add to the agenda as we had all day to travel to La Fortuna. The wonderful young staff at Mitzli Lodge secured the reservation for us the day before. We had a 10:00 coffee, chocolate, and sugar tour scheduled.
The GPS showed two routes to Don Juan. I randomly chose one, but of course when given a 50/50 chance for picking the better route…it’s 90/10 that I’d pick the worse. As we turned onto the access road to Don Juan, we got suspicious since it was rather narrow, overgrown on both sides, and unpaved and rocky. But I pressed on another 50 yards until we hit a closed gate with a tractor in the middle of the road on the other side of it. But a guy on the tractor got out, opened the gate for us and moved his tractor just enough for us to get by…apparently this is the place, right? Wrong. A little further up was another closed gate (without a tractor concierge).
This time I got out and wandered on foot looking for something indicating we are in the right place. I wandered onto the Don Juan property while the others waited in the car. After encountering two less-than-helpful farmhands, I made it to one of the coffee tour outbuildings where somebody informed me that the parking area was on the other side of the farm. He held in his laughter as he remarked about my following the GPS down the wrong road. But he escorted me back to the car, unlocked the gate and pointed us to where to go and park. Luckily we still made it on time to our 10:00 tour.
This turned out to be an excellent tour. We learned a lot about the farming and making of cocoa beans/chocolate, then sugar from sugar cane, and finally coffee. Our guide/educator was well-versed, engaging, and passionate about the subject.
Em participated in the sugar cane squeezing.
Then we enjoyed the fruits (or sweets) of Emilie’s labor.
After the tour we drank coffee samples at the main building and bought souvenirs. Due to Costa Rican law, Don Juan is not allowed to sell their coffee, nor their coffee beans off premises so we bought coffee and cocoa from them to take home.
On to La Fortuna.
