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Sunday, March 07, 2021

Monte Verde - Our Cabin in the Sky - Costa Rica - Days 7 and 8

Our chalet high in the mountains at Monte Verde.

This is a chalet just like ours but ours is in the tree canopy.

We took this cable car ride in very windy conditions. 


It was just 100 miles and 4 hours of driving from our luxury resort along the Pacific Coast to our Eco-Tourism Chalet at 4300 feet above sea level near the Great Divide of Costa Rica. We left 93 degree tropical sunbaked lounging to a night of sleeping in a cabin with no heat and no air conditioning - just an open wood fireplace. Instead of having fancy poolside meals - we stopped for groceries and Lulu cooked our meals in a tiny kitchen with a propane hot plate. 

It has been bright sunny up here - but we did experience 57 degrees outside during the night. I woke up at 6 AM to build a fire for breakfast. 

A big concern of the trip for me is the covid test. Although we have both had our covid shots for over a month - we still have to be tested before we came back to the USA. Lulu was able to arrange the covid test with a doctor here in town - we fly Tuesday and must have our test results before the flight. Two things can happen - both bad. First the test could not come back on time - and we would miss the flight. Second - one of us could test positive - and we would be quarantined here in Costa Rica for a week. Supposedly - we will find out Monday morning - then fly home Tuesday. We have no symptoms - but supposedly you can carry covid - after the shots and show no signs. I worry. 

Our chalet is in the woods - heavily surrounded by tree canopy. We have seen a few ground animals and birds - but nothing like we expected. I was a science teacher - but my interests are more in Earth and Space Science and less in Biology. Still we expected a virtual zoo. 

We did take at ride on the Sky Tram - a cable car of sorts - high above where we are living. It was only 60 degrees and winds gusted to 50 mph. It was not fun in open cable cars. We did do some hiking on the premises of our cabin - and that was really nice. We did some mountain climbing and came back very tired. 

Although the chalet is lined with shiny wood - there is no insulation in the walls or roof. The windows are just single thickness glass. Our hot water is simple a shiny stainless tank on the roof. 

The water gets piping hot - but if you waste too much doing dishes at night - the morning showers are just warm. You live and learn with a place like this. Lulu is right at home with the kitchen - a propane hot place - refrigerator - coffee maker - tea boiler - microwave. 

Lulu says she would like to have a chalet like this on Saylor's Lake. It does remind me of our old home in Tamaqua. The living room is glass on three sides. 

Monte Verde has a special history. It was developed by a group of Quakers from Alabama in 1950. They did not want to fight in the Korean War - so they came here. We just visited their schools - the meeting house - and library. It is a Sunday - the school was empty - but the library operates on the honor system. You can take out library books by signing the card with your name and phone number. All the cataloging of books was done by hand. 

When the Quakers got to the area - annual visitors stood at about 100. Now 250,000 visitors come every year. Of course - with covid it is sparse now. The roads are horrible by USA standards - but the people seem to be happy driving SUV's and pickups. No worry about snow or ice. Mud??

We have good internet here - not real fast - around 7 mbps. It is good enough for us to stream Hulu - Netflix - and our Xfinity from home - and of course our Slingbox. The TV's down here do not have an HDMI port - so we cannot hook our iPhone to the TV here. We did it at the other hotels. 

We have T-Mobile service so we can make phone calls from here - also free data and text. 

Monday - we drive to San Jose Airport - Tuesday we fly to Tallahassee. 

Most people decide to go on a vacation to the shore or the mountains. Here we were able to do both. 


Our bedroom for two nights.


Bathroom - toilet - sink - shower stall



The kitchen had a refrigerator - a sink - a propane hot plate.

Both nights we kept a wood fire going. 

We got covid tests - required by USA - before we returned. 

Dr Fernandez - 9 AM Sunday. Results hopefully Monday. 

We caught the cable car in that building. 


Suspension bridges over the forest. 

Eco-tourism - looking for birds - butterflies - ground animals.

Volcano Arenal from our cable car.

Near the Great Divide - lots of wind. Dry season. 

Our volcano. 

Lookout tower on top of mountain. 

Giant leaves - 3 feet across

Our porch had a hammock. 

You could see all the way to the Pacific. 

Quaker School and Meeting House

Library door was open - honor system.

Lulu seeing if they had her books. 

Quaker Library.

Quaker Meeting House was very nice. 


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