Monteverde: The Ficus Tree

Today we woke and got on a bus. From the bus we boarded a boat with a gorgeous view. 

We traveled across the lake and then onto another bus. I was laughing because my Fitbit thought the bumpy road was me running and suddenly I had 5k steps. Now I need to take it off for awhile. After about 3 hours we arrived in Monteverde and I regret staying here 3 days but we will make the best of it. It is a small town in the midst of major hills and streets steeper than San Francisco. 

Our hostel is next to a construction site and super loud BUT we have a private room with two beds and our own bathroom. After the last hostel though, this is a huge downgrade. We miss our hammocks and the beauty of the last place. Here there are no common areas but luckily we met people yesterday and on the bus. Anyway. We wanted to get something in today and I had read online about this cool tree that is hollow and you can climb it. So we asked the lady and she said it was about 30 min walk. Ok.

We start walking and immediately it is straight up. Up hill for days. We are supposed to turn at an ATM. But we never see an ATM so we keep going up this monster hill and eventually after about 25 min we get to a place to ask for help. 

He missed the turn. Go back down the monster hill and turn at a sign for an ATM/bank not the actual bank. Now go up a steep paved hill that's at least a 70% incline. The tree should be near the school. Keep walking. At this point I'm a walking sauna with this "rain jacket" with no breathability and guess what... Today I learned it's not a rain jacket- rain went right through 😱. Okay so we meet up with 3 that we met yesterday and find the school with a sign that says focus tree and points down. They start walking down a really steep rocky hill and I'm thinking dude the tree is supposed to be right next to the school and if I walk down this hill I'm going to need to go back up it. Well 15 min later at the way way bottom of this super steep hill we are told we have to go all the way back to the top and then turn down a dirt path. Well as we begin to climb I realize I'm in trouble. 

1. I have a head cold and can't breathe through my nose.

2. My blister has popper and the bandaid was so sticky and rubbing that it has rubbed off the skin from the arch of my foot right where my shoe hits. Intense pain. 

3. I don't have water and am sweating bullets.

4. I have eaten 1 banana and 1 kasha bar and it's 1:30pm. Remember the no appetite thing? I didn't realize that. 

5. I'm with a group of hikers who are flying up this hill. 

Okay so honestly this was a really bad situation. When we finally got to the top of the hill I felt faint and had to hold a tree. My arms and legs were shaking like crazy. My nuts! I remembered my emergency nuts and downed them. 

I needed to see Thai tree but I also knew I was in bad shape. 

This is a strangler fig tree and it was many many stories high. When you go in the  cage of roots it looks like this:

Are you kidding how cool! I knew I needed to snap a picture but I also knew I had no strength to climb it. 

Made me sad bc I really wanted to climb it. 

But Wowza! 

This tree is pretty awesome! I've never seen anything like it! Found out its like 159 feet tall. 10 stories! 

Then I told the group I was leaving and attempted to walk the journey back to town and the hostel. Multiple times I had to stop bc I was shaking so badly I couldn't keep my balance going down. I finally made it and bought a water bottle that was way to expensive but it was desperate times. Then got a banana and peanut butter in me and passed out on the bed. By the way. Food here is so expensive! If you are on a budget come to Monteverde for one day. Do the cloud forest and bridges, hike to the ficus tree and get out. ✌🏻️

Update: 

I found food. It even had veggies. Delicious. 

More of an update: 

I have to go back and climb this tree!