7) Playa de Coco and Playa Hermosa

From Monteverde in the mountains we traveled to Playa de Coco at the Pacific Ocean to enjoy some beach time again :) At first, we were unlucky finding a place to stay. The places were either overrated or dirty backyards. Then, luckily a man approached us offering a short ride showing us his Apartmentos Silvestres. The friendly German, living there with his Costa Rican wife and his mother, offered us a great place. We were happy to book 2 nights straight. The beach of Playa de Coco is huge, but not the prettiest. Thus, the next day (28.11.) we explored Playa Ocotal in the west. Unfortunately, it was very stormy that morning and we couldn't enjoy the beach much although it was much prettier. We tramped back to Playa de Coco, walked along the beach, ate an american cheesecake *yummy* and walked to Playa Hermosa as we were advised by our hosts. Unfortunately, it was kind of a horror way to walk. Still, Playa Hermosa was awesome! A great sunset allowed us to make some cool pictures with the new waterproof camera Franzi bought before the holidays. For the way back, a nearby hotel arranged us a taxi. The next day (29.11.) we went again, this time by bicycle :) We went to Playa Panama which was not too nice either. So, we went to Playa Hermosa again and enjoyed some great waves. Using Franzi's new camera I made some cool pictures of Julio, a local surfer^^
The next day (30.11.) we traveled back to Liberia where we jumped on a bus towards Nicaragua.

Playa Ocotal

Cheesecake at Playa de Coco

Sunset at Playa Hermosa

Beautiful^^

Surfer Julio at Playa Hermosa

6) Monteverde and Santa Elena: Cloud Forest

At late afternoon (25.11.) we arrived in Monteverde and stayed at Hostel El Tucan, which is absolutely advisable ;) At the evening after our arrival we looked through the offered activities and packed our next day in Monteverde with various tours. A nice dinner and early sleep to be fit for the following day. In the morning we went to Santa Elena National Park where we met a friendly psychology student  from Germany. The cloud forest was amazing to watch. We even saw a hummingbird. Especially the flora is amazing with all the moss and fern on the trees. The views were epic when sunlight shined through the cloudy dust into the forest! We couldn't stay too long, as we had booked an extreme ziplining tour in the early afternoon. But hey, it was absolutely the right decision. 40 bucks for an awesome time. See the video for what it was about^^ I can highly recommend it, even if it appears very touristic!
Afterwards we gained back some strength with lunch, followed by one of the best coffees I drank until that day at Cafeteria Orchidieas and a sleep before we went on a night tour to see the jungle life during night. We were very lucky seeing two Armadillos, a Tamandua, a racoon, two tucans, various snakes, frogs and spiders :) It was a little too dark to take pictures of the moving animals, I have some of the sleeping ones though^^
The next day we recovered from the night with again with one of the awesome coffees. Then we took a bus (27.11.) to the pan americana highway and enjoyed gorgeous views over the mountains. At the highway we flagged down a bus and drove to Liberia to change bus again for Playa De Coco - beach time again :P

Glimpse of blue sky through the cloud forest

Rays of sunlight shine through the forest

enlightened :P

small snake in position to sntach prey at night

weird insects looking like leaves^^

view over the mountains from the bus departing Monteverde