One of the best decisions I could have made on CostaRica was to go to the mountains and experience a part of the country far from the ocean. Because even though I absolutely loved the wild beaches and wrote about them in this article, the pure jungle full of life that I got to see later was something I couldn’t even dream of. I drove about 6 hours from Montezuma to the village of MonteVerde in the mountains. But it was a great trip because I got to see a lot of the country and get to know the small non-tourist villages. 

MonteVerde

Monteverde is a community that was established by a combination of American Quaker settlers and local Costa Ricans. The residents of Monteverde take pride in being part of a nation that is a global leader in conservation and sustainable tourism practices.

When I arrived in MonteVerde, I was amazed at how different the weather and temperature was. It was about 20 degrees cooler than the ocean and I realized I didn’t have enough clothes. What I didn’t like about the town was that everything was very much oriented towards adventure tourism – ziplining, hanging bridges, all kinds of adventure activities for a lot of money. It was clear to me that this was definitely not going to be an area I would be exploring in the mountains. I just wanted to be in the jungle and discover the primary forest – the unlogged and untouched one.
Just before I checked in, I met Felipe by asking him if he could re-park his car because I wasn’t sure how to park mine.
He’d lived in Monte Verde for 14 years and we got on really well. We went out for tacos and then for a beer in a local brewery and I appreciated so much that I can hang out with him and get to know all the local people and artists! We talked about the community of Quakers and about the changes that are happining to MonteVerde because of the tourism boom. Felipe asked me many questions which is rare, people usually rather talk about themselves.

I saw Felipe a few more times after that. He worked at a luxury hotel that organized forest walks for its customers. Felipe gave me a personal tour and told me many stories about the forest and his work. I was moved by how much he loved the place and how much he loved his job. He was also secretly growing decorative bottle gardens and cultivating mosses. It was all secret because he didn’t have permission from the government to do it. But he put his heart into it and you could tell. Again, I was moved to tears as I observed the mosses and plants in detail.
We also went to the best ceviche I had in Costa Rica together and he showed me around all the galleries and places where local artists create their art.

We watched sunsets together and drank beer together.

MONTE VERDE CLOUD FOREST

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is a world-famous destination, known for preserving one of the most pristine cloud forests on the planet. This unique ecosystem is home to rare species of trees, plants, and animals such as the quetzal and many varieties of orchids. This cloud forests cover only a tiny fraction of the remaining forests on Earth and that is what makes them so special. The reserve boasts over 3,200 species of plants, including 700 species of trees and 500 species of orchids, as well as 425 species of birds, 120 species of mammals, 60 species of amphibians, and 101 species of reptiles.
I visited this nature reserve very early in the morning and on my own without any guided tour. I think I had a pretty unique experience since I walked for most of the time on my own and I could fully immerse myself in the sounds of the jungle and observe the animals and plants. I was completely overwhelmed by it and it felt like a dream. I had never seen so much life and greenery concentrated in one place. I could also feel the huge amount of oxygen around me and it was wonderful to breathe. I was genuinely happy and filled with the beauty around me.

EL TIGRE WATERFALLS

On my way from MonteVerde to La Fortuna (near which the iconic Arenal volcano is located), I stopped to hike El Tigre Waterfalls. The drive to that spot was beautiful through the mountains on dirt roads. It was raining and I didn’t meet a car for a long time. I was kind of thinking that maybe it was dangerous to drive alone like that in the middle of nowhere in Central America. But I enjoyed it. I put on some music and just enjoyed the ride. Again, I was overwhelmed by the beauty around me.
I stopped a few times to look at waterfalls where you usually had to pay an entrance fee, but I always somehow got around that and got to them by wading in the river.

I also went on the Tiagre Waterfalls Hike by myself. It was a great hike where I saw a lot of suspension bridges and 7 waterfalls. You can see it’s an undiscovered place because there were hardly any people there. Within a few minutes I met Jez and his friend while watching one very huuge and majestic waterfall. Jez was into dance, community work and was a former fashion designer from London. His friend, on the other hand, was an ecstatic dance DJ and was from California. I felt this almost magical connection with Jez from the first second I saw him. An incredibly fast connection. I went almost the whole hike with them. Jez and I went barefoot and just enjoyed being in the moment. Then we also skinny dipped under a waterfall and it was really, really relaxing. Lots of tourists were looking at us, but I didn’t really care. In the last year I’ve reevaluated my relationship with nudity and my body a lot, and sometimes it’s very liberating. Although I still prefer to go dressed in front of others.

 

 

ARENAL LAKE & LA FORTUNA

La Fortuna is a town that is often used for tours around the Arenal volcano. Most of the time it rains and is foggy, so you can’t see the volcano anyway. The park is a classic entrance fee. I tried to go around it, but unfortunately security kicked me out. So I just went for a walk to the dam, where it started raining heavily. I had a young coconut anyway and pretended that every limb in my body wasn’t freezing.
In Fortuna, I stayed in Lulu’s mini-room. The lady who owned the local “SODA” with her family (Soda is what they call the local restaurants in Costa Rica – where the food is usually super good local and cheap – “cheap” relatively, because everything in Costa Rica is pretty expensive). Lulu was awesome and it was a great place to work for me. So I worked most days and then only went for a walk in the afternoon.

BAJOS DEL TORO

Bajos del Toro is a place that has not yet been discovered by tourists and is not visited by everyone who goes to the Costaricas for a while. It was recommended to me by Audrey, who was recommended by a local at the airport. There are many waterfalls to see on the way to the village of Bajos del Toro. Classically none are free, but some can be walked around (which I did) and with a little effort it is possible to get to them for free. The village itself was very cute and perhaps for the first time I had an authentic meal there in a non-touristy restaurant. I was surprised that in a country as eco-friendly as Costa Rica they gave me cutlery wrapped in plastic. I hadn’t realized that actually, the eco-friendly thing in Costa Rica wasn’t so hot with the locals.

CATARATA DEL TORO

The biggest and most majestic waterfall I’ve ever seen was the 90-meter waterfall plummeting into an extinct volcanic crater called Catarata de Toro. There was a moderate hike to it, and it was owned by a gentleman from Holland who gave me a discount to get in because he liked the fact that I was from the Czech Republic. I was there alone again because I actually arrived quite late, at sunset. The power of the waterfall was unreal.

San José and Irazu Volcano

Before heading back to Berlin, I decided to spend the last 3 nights in Alajuela, a town next to the capital of Costa Rica, San José.
I had a whole apartment to myself right on the town square, above a small supermarket owned by Francisco’s family. We were kind of friends with him and then went out for ceviche together on the last day.
The very next day I met Alex, a best friend from Bunny (who I know from the Healing Festival). He took me to a delicious ceviche and then to the Irazu volcano. The weather was foggy and rainy on the way up. It was cold. But as we drove up, I knew it was the best we could do because you could tell we were going to see a beautiful inversion. On the way up we stopped for more food at a lovely restaurant. I was getting a little psychedelic mushrooming and it was great.
The inversions and clouds we saw on the way back were incredible. Again – but the most gorgeous sky I’ve ever seen. We were really happy. It seemed like the sky was completely endless and like we were part of it. I don’t even know how to describe it.

 

 

I think the trip to Costa Rica was one of the turning points for me. Perhaps for the first time in my life I felt stable and experienced so many feelings of happiness like never before. And I did it all mostly with myself and didn’t need anyone externally to give me happiness. It all came from within. I did have my sad moments, but there were actually no more unexplained ones. I found out where I definitely don’t want to be in my life and what I need. From myself and from others. I saw the most beautiful nature and met beautiful and pure souls and left behind the ones I was letting (albeit unknowingly) hurt me.
Even though our paths parted, I thank A. with all my heart for making this trip possible <3.