Melissa’s Soapbox

Other than our terrible experience at the Mirador Lodge, we had a great time in the Monteverde and Santa Elena areas.  Located in the northwestern Costa Rica up in the mountains, Monteverde was establishd by Quakers from Alabama who were jailed in 1949 for refusing to register for the draft.  After much investigation, the Quakers felt Costa Rica would be perfect given its benign political policies, lack of an army, pleasant climate, fertile soil, available land, and airport in San Jose.  They set up an environmentally sensitive dairy farm and cheese factory which still exists.  We toured La Lechería and sampled the delicious cheese and ice cream!

As with most of Costa Rica, the food wasn’t very good in Monteverde although we did have a really good pizza at Pizza Johnny and a couple of good dishes at the Rainforest Cafe (not affiliated with the chain restaurant at the mall, this one is actually in the rainforest)!  Plus, we hit the hip Santa Elena hotspot, Amigos, to catch the satellite televised Final Four (UCLA versus LSU, and George Mason versus Florida) and Final game.  Amigos’ regulars were quite surprised to see so many gringos glued to the corner television in their professional drinking establishment.

In Santa Elena, we stayed at the Claro de Luna which was a significant upgrade from the Mirador Lodge.  Sadly, like much of central America, Claro de Luna’s beds are not real mattresses with box springs; instead, they are these foam pad things that are super uncomfortable and unfriendly to the back and neck!  Also like much of central America, breakfast was fantastic!

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