22/08/04- 25/08/04 Santa Elena

Managed to make it to Santa Elena and Monteverde with most of our bones in tact. The roads here are truly awful and we will have to hope that it doesn't rain too much while we are here otherwise I am not sure that we will be able to get back out. The town itself isn't too pretty but the area surrounding it is beautiful.

Whilst we have been here we have been on a couple of walks through the cloud forest, included on the suspension bridges so that we could see the rainforest from a different perspective and not see any animals from higher up. Still it was very different and interesting. After that we went around the forest on zip slides which was really very good fun, until the heavens opened, then sliding down metal wires high up in thunder and lightening and torrential rain didn't seem like such a good idea.

The following day we took it a bit easier and had a wander up to the cheese factory and the surrounding area and then got drunk in the evening, always a wise plan when you arent feeling too well and you have to get up at 5am the next morning to get to the border before the striking truck drivers could see us.

For anyone wanting to see animals in this area don't go on the sky walk things or similar as the presence of enormous squeaking suspension bridges above the forest canopy tends to frighten the creatures away. Feeding them closeby for other tours also discourages them from being anywhere near anywhere where they need to find food for themselves- the forest was pretty dead. Aaaahh- victims of their own success and precursor to their own doom. Double aaahhh.

How brave am I, actually I am hanging on for dear life as Andy is at the other end about to start swaying the bridge



All ready for the death slides