Today we travelled from Heredia in the central valley of Costa Rica, to Monteverde which is in the Puntarenas Province. When preparing for this trip we learned that Costa Rica is very diverse in climate and landscapes based on the region you are in. When traveling from Heredia to Monteverde today I saw how true this really is. In the 4 hour bus ride we went through all different types of landscapes. We left the city setting of Heredia, and passed through some fields and less developed areas, we then passed the beach and ended up in the very green mountains! Monteverde is much more similar to what I pictured Costa Rica looking like than Heredia is. It is very green with lots of mountains and other beautiful scenery. There are also a lot of animals here which is very exciting to see!

On the roads to Monteverde we passed a lot of stores and restaurants which were unlike what I am used to. Many of them were in houses and did not look like typical commercial stores or restaurants. It reminded me a lot of an area of California that I drove through this summer. There were a lot of little stands and stores right on the side of the road, just like the ones I saw today on the bus ride. Having the stores on the side of a busy road will bring in a lot of business as people driving by will want to stop for food or drinks. We stopped into what is comparable to a rest stop in America, and I was pleasantly surprised at how different it was that those in America. Most rest stops in america hold fast food chains such as Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King etc. But the one we stopped at was very different. It had a lot of souvenirs but it also had an area with homemade snacks, ice cream, and you could even get smoothies! I am so excited to continue exploring Monteverde and the rest of Costa Rica.