La Fortuna » Santa Elena on horseback over Monteverde

Diary:

Today we left La Fortuna and travelled on horseback to Santa Elena in the highlands of northwestern Costa Rica, via the treacherous Mirador Trail. The trail included 3 deep river crossings and the climb up the Guanacaste mountain range really gave our poor horses a major workout.

Despite the arduous trail, however, the horses were quite spirited which, given our group's rather limited horseback riding skills, made for an entertaining journey. Every now and again one or more horses would spontaneously break into a furious gallop and quickly vanish into the misty trail ahead, with one of our guides racing after in hot pursuit. After we'd reached Santa Elena four hours later, I can guarantee that some of our group vowed to never mount a horse ever again. But for me, it was one of the most exciting horse rides I'd ever experienced. As we climbed higher into the lush cloud forest we were overwhelmed with the natural beauty and amazing diversity of plant and animal wildlife.

In Santa Elena we decided to spend a few nights at the very nice B & B Claro de Luna.

Photos: (click on images to see full size)