Arenal/Monteverde/Peace Lodge
 

Hello! This forum has been helpful so far. I have a couple of questions.
I'm going with my family (5 in all) to:

Peace Lodge (one night)
Montana de Fuego- Arenal (two nights)
El Establo- Monteverde (two nights)

My parents are 62 and 66. I'm wondering if this will be too much of an "active" vacation for them. It's going to include some white-water rafting (Level I and II), zip tour and tram, etc.

Also, I'm liking the tour offered by:
www.gettocostarica.com
Has anybody else used this travel agency? Any comments?
We're Cuban-American, so Spanish is not going to be a problem for us- Also, we travel to Latin America often so the American 5 star experience is not expected.
Any help would be appreciated- thanks in advance!

bodypolitic, hubby and I are around 50 and just returned from a great family trip to Costa Rica.

I would be concerned about your 66-year-old parent, but it partly depends on what kind of shape one is in at 66.

The road to and from Monteverde is a very rough, bone-rattling ride! At one point my 19-year-old daughter actually bumped her head on the glass window of the vehicle, giving it a good wack, because the road was so bumpy. I joked a few times that it felt like my uterus was detaching from my insides, I was pretty sure...

That's about as much adventure as I can handle at 50, and while I thought it was worth it, to get to the beautiful Monteverde cloud forest preserve, I can tell you when I'm 66 I won't be taking that road again, I'll be wanting a smoother ride to my adventures!

Also if you are going in the rainy season, it is green and beautiful, but the trails are also muddy and slippery. If you slip and fall when you're 19, it might be funny. If you slip and fall when you're 50, and you don't break or sprain anything, you tend to feel like, whew, that was a close one. But if grandma or grandpa slips and falls at 66, they might get seriously injured.

Generally speaking, most of the hikers and adventurers we passed were younger than us in Costa Rica...

I plan to continue travelling in my 60's, but as I get closer to 70, I think my days of hiking in the mud will be over. (Now my hubby is a biologist and I'm pretty sure he plans on playing in the mud up into his 90's!)

I'm glad your parents still enjoy travelling and I'm glad you are able to travel with them. I hope everything works out for the family. Maybe you should consider going to Arenal but skipping Monteverde.

Well, they're active for their 60's (go to the gym frequently, run a couple of miles a week, etc.) I already had them buy shoes with traction. Thanks for the help though. i'm rethinking Monteverde.

I wouldn't worry about Monteverde. Hiking around with a guide is fairly slow because they are looking for specific things to show you. It can be a little slippery. there is also the Hummingbird gallery to ooh and aaah over. It is fascinating. the butterfly garden is a nice tour and I am sure you and your parents would enjoy that. Very close to el establo also. I hear that de Lucia inn right there has very good dinners. Santa elena cloud forest was a pretty easy walk. Finca ecologica is steep. I didn't see when you are going. rainy season could be pretty uncomfortable up there and the driving up would be a little trickier. It is a cloud forest so mist and or rain is always a possibility. I have seen some beautiful rainbows while traveling up the Monteverde. I have seen it pouring in the reserves but bone dry in Santa Elena. also, the ride up from the Inter american seems to be (to me anyway) a little smoother than the trip between Arenal and Monteverde.

In Arenal I would recommend the sky trek canopy tour. the more adventurous can do the zip line while the less adventurous can do the tram. My guess is that your parents will go for it!

I am assuming you will be rafting on the sarapiqui river. great wildlife to see. Level I and II are pretty easy. If they are as active as you say, they shouldn't have any trouble. I have seen older on the Pacuare and that is an exciting ride!

I wouldn't worry about your destinations. there is something for all levels of activity in each one.

Sarapiqiui (spelling is off, I know) river sounds like a lot of fun. I'm kind of afraid of the whole rafting experience. Is level I and II ok for picture taking and some sights?

Yes, they are still really active folks - I hope I'm as active at 66! My dad spends a lot of time in the yard dragging sod and the like. I'm not really worried about him- just making sure and covering a lot of bases. I'll be sure they get adequate shoes.

What did you think of el establo? The site makes it look lovely. I'm looking foward to it. Thanks for the food suggestions! I'm going to print this out and take it with me.

Just returned from 10 days in CR. As many have said the worst part of Santa Elena/Monteverde is the drive getting there and out. We had a 4 Runner and the two hours (to go about 30 km) of bone rattling was tiring but not terrible.

As far as walking the rain forest - Monteverde has a number of paved paths - enough to enjoy the forest so walking for active 60 year olds is no problem. Santa Elena was a little less so but I still don't see any difficulty. Rain comes and goes but was not an issue with us. If they are working out and running every week I don't see any problem with them doing everything that is there.. but you know them better than I.

Sky Walk and Sky Trek were both good .. so if they don't want to do the zip lines the suspension bridges are still cool. By the way we had a 70+ woman do the zip lines with us no problem.

Yours aye

Thanks! Most of us are doing the Sky Trek Tram but my dad and sister are doing the zip lines. They've done that kind of thing before- I'm not particularly worried about that. The rain isn't much of an issue because we live in Miami and it rains every day, sometimes more than once a day. Any suggestions on restaurants or hotels?
Thanks for your help!

We have seen lots of 60+ travelers in CR, as they say you are only as old as you feel! They actually sound like they may be in better shape than me!

Level 1-2 is pretty calm.

If slippery trails seem to concern you, use the walking poles or sticks or whatever they are called.

I can recommend the Lost Iguana resort in Arenal. The luxury suites are the best rooms, much bigger than the regular rooms. www.lostiguanaresort.com

Our luxury suite, room 11, on the first floor, was unbelievable! Way above average in the way it was decorated..."jungle luxury". Very very clean. Every room at the lost iguana has a volcano view, but remember, the clouds could still cover the volcano every day of your visit. As it happened we saw lava flow every night from our room and from our private patio with rocking chairs! Also had a double lava rock shower, open at the top with screen above your head. Romantic!

The only down-side to the Lost Iguana is it's a relatively newer resort, compared to some that have been there for years. The staff is still learning...sometimes they were great, sometimes they made mistakes. They did our laundry for free! I have no idea if they always do that or if it was a special offer. I asked at the desk how much it cost to do laundry and she said they would do it for free and they did. I gave the person who delivered the laundry a tip.

The phones went out for 2/3 days of our visit at the Lost Iguana! That was annoying. It was just after a storm. (We drove up to Arenal in a tree-knocking storm!) But when I needed dinner reservations for Ecotermales, I kept asking at the desk and they kept saying the phones were broken. finally one of the employees drove down the road and made the reservation by cell phone! No cell phone service from the hotel. We had a car but hubby was out with the car when I had to make the reservation.

However I must warn you that this hotel, like many of the more interesting hotels in Costa Rica, has some steep trails leading up to some of the rooms, but the Lost Iguana has a little paved series of steps leading up the hill to rooms.

I had brought 5 mini-flashlights (the kind that fit on your keyring) and found them very useful for finding your way back to your room in the dark! Bring several as they may run out of batteries. Small and easy to pack. Get at least one or two for each person.

I recommend the Lost Iguana if you are renting a car. (Without a car, you might feel too isolated. It's a 15-minute drive into town, a 5-minute drive or a 10-minute walk uphill to the Hanging Bridges, great place for a 2-hour hike, if you take your time you'll see monkeys. Lost Iguana can sell you half-price tickets for the hanging bridges. ($10) www.hangingbridges.com

BAsically if everyone else is passing you on your hike, you are going at the right pace to see some wildlife! If you are passing everyone else, then you "won't see anything".

Don't book any big group tours in the rainforests. If you want a guide hire a private guide. In the big tour groups the guides have to talk so loud that it spoils the sounds of the rainforest...the peace, the birds, the frogs, the insects...the gentle sounds. Even the sounds of water dripping onto leaves!

My hubby is a biologist so we didn't hire any nature guides unless it was required.

If you are interested in hearing 6 different frog calls right from your 1st floor private room patio, Lost Iguana is the place for you.

Restaurant food at the Lost Iguana was pretty good for costa Rica.

Do you like insects? They will grow on you in Costa Rica. You won't have any choice as they are everywhere! But I only got 1 mosquito bite, the bugs were polite to me.

There are so many insects they will find their way into your room.

Big hint I saw on-line and it works...DON'T LEAVE YOUR ROOM LIGHT ON when you go to dinner, and don't leave your room light on and leave the door open because insects are attracted to the light. We LOVED sitting by moonlight in our room at the Lost Iguana, with the patio doors open to the frog calls. Very atmospheric.

If your room has an outside light, turn on the outside light and NOT the inside room light when you enter your room at night. This way you can see but fewer bugs will follow you into your room, they will hang around the outside light.

There was only 1 hotel in Costa Rica where we found no bugs inside the room...that was the Hotel Bougainvillea in Heredia about a 20-minute drive from the airport. We were trying to figure out how they acomplished this! I think it has to do with the fact that it's a traditional style hotel with inside corridors, and also the doors to your patio automatically close, so less chance that you will leave the door open to the bugs.

Recommend for Costa Rica: Always keep your luggage zipped closed. Never leave open food in the room.

I'll be interested to see how your parents enjoy the trip, let us know when you return!

If you can somehow get them a walking stick on some of those trails, that would help. I wish I had one! You can't grab onto the trees unless you want a spider to hop onto you or a bite from biting ants!

MAJOR TIP FROM BIOLOGIST HUBBY: Don't step on those tree roots on trails! They look like a good place to anchor your feet, but they are the most slippery place you could place your foot! Believe it or not, you can place your foot right in the mud, between the tree roots, and it is okay. You can also put your foot on rocks that look dry on the top. In places the trails are paved but in places they are not.

Bring 2 pairs of walking or hiking shoes per person. One pair tends to get wet and muddy and takes about 3 days to dry in the humidity.

In Monteverde we stayed at El Sapo dorado but I didn't like our classic mountain suite cabin. the only heat source was a fireplace and previous guests had managed to light such smoky fires that the whole cabin reeked of smoke and soot and made me wheezy! I actually had to ask the staff to wash the bed blankets so that I could sleep without wheezing. If you love cabins try one of their other cabins without a fireplace. Great food at the El Sapo dorado restaurant though.

Monteverde was the only place we went that we actually felt cold in the late afternoon/evening/night. Next time I would book a room in another hotel that had a heat source, not a fire place though. I might look into Monteverde Lodge for next time.

Well I guess I've written too much already! There's a lot of info in my recent rip report, "We're Alive! Costa Rica Trip Report June 2005: Monkeys, Insects....."

I recommend you print out trip reports and use a highlighter. I found this very helpful and the info is even more updated than your guidebook. I bought 4 guidebooks and the best ones were Fodors and The New Key To Costa Rica. Frommers actually had some mistakes in it for costa Rica, I wouldn't buy that one for Costa Rica.

Pura vida!

Hi! Your tips were really helpful. We'll stay from the roots. Our hotel in Monteverde doesn't have a heat source (El Establo) so I'm wondering how cold we're going to be. As for the bugs- Miami affords a lot of mosquitos as it is! HAHA- I wasn't aware of the light source attraction that bugs have. I'll be sure to leave the lights off when I go outside. The last thing we want to do is sleep steeped in mosquitos. We had planned to do group tours but I called ahead and had our tour company book us private ones. Thanks for the advice. I was marine biology student but my knowledge of rainforests in limited. If we were by the ocean, I'd be a plethora of information. Any good places to eat in Monteverde and Arenal? We're going to have a driver so it won't be a problem getting around. As per the phone, I think I just might get Cingular to make my phone "international" for a couple of days - it's worth it. Has anyone else done this?

I packed some flashlights as you suggested- good call! I hadn't thought to pack those.
Do you recommend any specific hiking/walking shoes?
I am at a loss as to what I should take.
You've been so helpful!
I will be sure to post a full synopsis of our travels when I get back! It's a month away but I'm already excited.

Hi, I stayed at both the Montana de Fuego in La Fortuna and El Establo in Monteverde. Our trip was in late February and early March. We were pleased with both hotels. However, there was a lot of construction going on while we were at Montana de Fuego, so don't know if you will be getting one of the new rooms or a bungalow like we had. Our bungalow looked out over a valley and we had a balcony on the valley side of the bungalow and a porch on the front of the building. The porch faced the volcano and there were two Costa Rican rocking chairs there to be used watching the volcano. Unfortunately, although we had beautiful views of the volcano during the day, clouds obscured our view at night so we did not see any lava flow. The resort was easy to get around, no steep hills to maneuver to get from your bungalow to the public areas. There are some nature trails that are quite steep, however the resort itself is fairly flat. Montana de Fuego had wonderful breakfasts with the typical Costa Rican breakfast of beans and rice, fried plantains, along with fresh fruit, pastries, cereal and omelets to order. However, we were not impressed with the restaurant for other meals. We thought the restaurant was very expensive and the food was mediocre, so I would suggest that you look elsewhere for lunch and dinner.

We had a very nice room at El Establo. I believe it was a junior suite. The bathroom was huge and had a tub and shower. Our room had a sliding glass door that looked out over the mountain. However, the nice view also meant that we were up high and you either had to climb the steep hill or wait for a shuttle to take you to your room. By the time we left El Establo, we were getting quite fit from our treks up and down the mountain. You may want to check and see where your rooms will be located at this hotel. There was another building with deluxe rooms even further up the mountain. If you will have a car, you should be fine. However if on foot, it may be a little strenuous for your parents. El Establo also serves a breakfast buffet similar to the one at Montana de Fuego.

At Montana de Fuego we were impressed with the wildlife and birds that we could see from our room. This was not the case at El Establo. The room was very nice, clean and spacious, however we enjoyed our stay at Montana de Fuego more

Oops. I hit the post my reply button by accident. I wanted to mention that we did not need heat during our stay in Costa Rica. We were there in February and March, however we had beautiful weather during our whole trip. Sorry I can't be more helpful regarding the heat situation at El Establo. Have fun on your trip. You will love Costa Rica.

Sara

Thanks! We will have a car/driver so there will be no problem at El Establo- Monteverde doesn't seem to have a whole lot of selection when it comes to hotels. It's a shame but anyway, thanks for your help!

Hi there,
Just returned last night from CR. We had a terrific 12 days! Stayed at Montana de fuego, while the grounds were very nice the rooms were not.Staff was not nice like all other hotels we stayed at. It was our least favorite hotel. DO NOT book their tours- they were NOT good. More in trip report.
El Establo was very, very good.While it was chilly we were not cold.They were very accomodating and would have provided more blankets if needed. Also, while there are a lot of stairs they have a shuttle that will drive you up and down the hill all day long...we very much liked El Establo. As a side note do not leave on your room light while out to dinner. We returned to a room FULL of moths...DUH! We met several folks in their lte 60's-early 70's that loved the rafting, and did lots of it. So if your folks are active go for it!
Have fun, it is a wonderfull country!
Sandy

Thanks! We're on the waiting list for El Tabacon and hopefully it'll come through (we would be very happy)- Montana de Fuego isn't shaping up to be very nice at all

I agree with Sandy. Skip Montana de Fuego. I posted my comments in her trip report. Some people on our Sky Trek zip line tour were staying at the Iguana Lodge and liked it.

Please let me know how your parents fare in Costa Rica. I'm trying to convince my 72 year old father, who would love the wildlife, to return with me next year.

Hopefully I can get out of Montana de Fuego but we're leaving soon so I'm not sure that's going to happen. I'm trying though!

Have you considered arenal Paraiso for a place to stay? It has its own small zip line (a practice run on this before hitting the big sky trek one?), hiking trails and volcano heated pool with a swim up bar. It is next door to Montana de fuego but most people seem to enjoy their stay there. I know we did. Most people also agree that breakfast is very good there but look elsewhere for other meals. seems to be the situation at Tabacon too. Hmmm. right between Mdf and AP is a place called El Novillo....great food at good prices. It doesn't look like much but give it a try.

Having a biologist can be a big help but I found that my son, even having had some tropical bio courses, was very limited in his knowledge of the actual species of plants seen in cr. He is a botanist but went to school in the states so his schooling was more geared to our species. His advisor was connected to the OTs in costa rica so he did learn some things from him. son spent 6 months in the Monteverde/Santa elena area on his own to learn some of the plant life. Knowing the keys to identification served him well but costa rica is so diverse that he only really learned a small amount in that time. Hubby traveled all over South America collecting birds for the smithsonian with his father as a kid but still prefers to have a local to go out with in cr. I guess what I am getting at is, the locals know their areas and you can learn so much from them. Private is best but if your budget doesn't allow for it, still go out in a small group, you will see more most of the time. We travel with a private guide every year for parts of our trip but also hire a local in most places. Every area in costa rica is so different which is why I think so many of us keep going down over and over. There are always new and exciting things to discover.

We have a private guide! Thank goodness- I believe it's a biologist from the area, so it should be informative at least to a certain degree. I'm looking around to see If I will be able to change hotels- Montana de Fuego sounds like a no-go- this forum is far more helpful than tripadvisor. Thank goodness I found you guys!