About halfway from the Inter-American highway to Monteverde, you’ll start to find cars stopped on the shoulder of the narrow mountain roads. It’s impossible to build a viewpoint for every stunning view stretching out across the rolling hills towards the Golfo de Nicoya, or up through valley corridors to where the mountains meet the clouds. So you make do with little dirt paths and sheepish waves to the locals and the occasional traveler when your car can’t quite get out off the road.
In my journeys to Monteverde, I’ve become no stranger to those roadside stops and sheepish waves, but not once in waving traffic along the road has anyone honked or yelled. More often, I’ll see families pressed to the windows of their rental cars looking at the same view I am. Or locals with a wry smile as yet another new face is captured by the beauty of Monteverde.
But on my most recent trip to Ocotea, as I tried to capture the twin beauties of a powerfully colorful rainbow and the late afternoon sun over the Golfo, I stopped to take a breath. I can show you that moment one day, recorded in a minute of hastily thought-up words and smartphone video. But I can’t send you the feeling of a true breath of fresh air.
No, fresh undersells it. In scuba diving, Dive Masters carry emergency oxygen, a high O2 blend that can reinvigorate your body, revive half-drowned divers, and provide the strength you need to survive accidents in one of the most hostile and challenging environments on earth.
Step out of the car in Monteverde, breathe deep from the bottom of your belly, and you’ll feel the same life-giving power without the emergency. The air tastes sweet, rich, and delicious. Like you’re drinking in the clouds.
A Sip in the Lounge
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I was still thinking about that first breath as I swirled the second drink of my day, my welcome cocktail in the rooftop bar at Ocotea. The Tamarind Old Fashioned was prepared to perfection, the sweet and earthy flavors selected to add a local twist to the world’s favorite whiskey drink.
I was born and raised in New Orleans, where the Sazerac is a way of life and the cocktail is an art form, and whether I wish to or not I’m constantly comparing the places I visit to the place I call home. Rarely do they measure up. Ocotea’s did, and the soon-to-be empty cocktails of the silver-haired couple across the lounge from me said it wasn’t just the Old Fashioned that was worth a full glass.
I’d been up to the lounge once before on a previous trip, but in the intervening months the additions of a hand-painted mural by artist Majo Rodriguez, careful playlist curation, and the skills of mixologist Eli Juric behind the counter created an atmosphere that surpassed even those lofty expectations.
Looking out across the Golfo de Nicoya, the mountainside, and the metropolis of Monteverde peeking through the forests, the sunset vista rivals any I’ve seen in Costa Rica. Behind you, the mountains stretch up, the trees stretch higher, and beyond them are the clouds that hide the trails. All that Costa Rica has, stretching out before you.
By the time I finished my cocktail two more families had joined, but the voices were hushed, respecting the pensive piano on the speakers. Monteverde has a way of drawing the silence out of you, making you want to listen. I thought the same as the night went on. Step out onto the balcony of your room, and you hear the winds rushing through the foliage, rolling across the mountains like waves crashing on a shore.
And apart from the gentle, shivering call of crickets singing for love, everyone respects the quiet.
A Story of Pride, Prejudice, and Perseverance
It would be impossible to share any story of Ocotea without speaking of Karen and Valeria, the beating heart of Ocotea and the center of this family-run business. Mother and daughter are cut from the same cloth, and they’re both quick with a smile, kind and thoughtful listeners that set an example for the entire staff that reminds you throughout the day that you’re being looked after.
I can see where Valeria gets it from. Karen, the matriarch of the hotel, is soft-spoken but has a strong presence — like the same Ocotea trees for which the hotel is named. Moreso, when you speak to her (and if you stay at Ocotea, you will almost certainly have the chance to speak to her) you can tell that she’s intently paying attention.
The first time I spoke to her, it actually caught me off-guard. In the age of social media and cell phones, we are so used to half- or quarter-attention. A sideways glance, or a quick mite of focus before we’re distracted by pings and messages and updates. To see someone who puts such weight into what you say makes you almost question yourself. Because if she cares deeply about what you’re saying, shouldn’t you?
I find myself thinking more carefully, more steadily, more lyrically when I speak to her. Not out of intimidation, but instead out of the desire to say something worth saying. At first, I thought that perhaps she embodied the quiet of Monteverde, the peace you find so often and in so many ways in this mountain town. It would make sense for that to permeate a person’s personality, their presence, and make you think twice before interrupting. But as the trip went on, I found that careful, attentive quiet was only a part of what made Karen — and Ocotea — such delightful hosts.
Ocotea Boutique Hotel was Ocotea Tours and Transfers for 15 years before the vision of a luxury hotel in Monteverde came to life, and from its conception the hotel immediately faced adversity. A global pandemic shut down all tourism, throwing both tours and hotels into chaos. Don Ignacio Fallas, the father of Karen, passed not long afterward, and while his spirit permeates every aspect of Ocotea, his loss brought emotional turmoil as challenging as that of the pandemic.
His loss also presented another problem. Costa Rica can be very progressive when it comes to sustainability and education, but at times the culture here can have some trouble with letting women take the lead, especially in the world of business. This is doubly true in small towns deeply rooted in tradition, setting a challenging landscape for the mourning family to navigate.
And yet, Ocotea has thrived. I joined Ocotea as a collaborator before its official opening when it was still just a shell and a dream, and I have seen firsthand the struggle and strength that it took to build the home we are gifted to visit. And yet, like trees grow stronger as they resist the gusts that roll across Monteverde from two oceans, you only see the beautiful accomplishment that is left behind.
To Truly Savor Monteverde
On the last night of my stay, I returned to Nectandra for dinner, placing an order for the tartare and the steak and settling to sip Monteverde Brewing’s Tapir Red Ale under the hotel’s second mural by Majo Rodriguez. And as I looked out into the garden, I realized that for the first time in a great many vacations, I felt truly rejuvenated at the end.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t leapt into all that Monteverde had to offer. We had hiked the trails in Curi-Cancha, spotting collared peccaries, and rainbow toucans, and had luck enough that six different resplendent quetzals had graced us with their presence on their long migrations. Just that afternoon I had set off mountain biking along the gorge-tracing roadways for nearly 3 hours. I’d had the fortune to visit an old friend and spend a night catching up, painting, and blasting prog rock on the stereo.
But I wasn’t worn down, or run ragged, like can so often happen on jam-packed journeys full of trips and tours and reservations. I’d lounged on the open-air terraces, slept late, and napped often. The tours themselves had been thoughtful, eye-opening, and physically active, and in sunshine or mist they’d gone on, but each had left behind the feeling of a summer day well spent.
Monteverde is named for the trees — its name roughly translates to “green mountain” — and I won’t write off the effect that can have on the health of the very air you breathe. But as my meal began to roll out, I wondered if it wasn’t something more than that, just like there was something more to Karen.
The food from Nectandra is farm-to-table fresh, as is much of the food in Monteverde. When you can see the ocean any time you look west, when the mountains are ripe with produce, and you can find cheese, coffee, chocolate, and beef producers within a stone’s throw, a shrewd chef is in their element.
But while there is delicious cuisine in Monteverde — ranging from elegant Italian-influenced dining to homecooked burgers to surf-and-turf sushi to typical tico dishes and corner-store caldosas — I’d had a hard time putting a finger on what I described as “Monteverde cuisine.”
But in two meals at Nectandra, I found the words. In truly exceptional Monteverde cuisine, each ingredient is given a chance to shine, with an emphasis on the richness and complexity of each flavor — particularly in that of the produce. In Nectandra, that comes alive in the simple yet elegant construction of each dish. Nothing is drowned in butter, or dressed up in so many sauces and salts that it becomes a hyper-palatable mush.
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When you taste a lightly grilled carrot, it tastes like a lightly grilled carrot. It just happens to be probably the best carrot you’ve ever tasted. In just two days, Nectandra caught me looking forward to a side of mixed vegetables (a dish I’ve found disappointing most other times it’s snuck into my order).
San Lucas, the neighboring concept-dining experience, is another example of this emphasis on ingredients, though their execution differs entirely, with each bite of fish, meat, and produce given sufficient pomp and circumstance in a memorable 7-course seasonal menu.
I leave it to personal preference to split the two, but it is inarguable that the two restaurants are paving the way for a cuisine that can truly be treated as Monteverdense.
Nectandra’s tuna tartare was the best I’ve ever had, just the right blend of sweet, savory, and tart. The steak was perfectly cooked and naturally fresh and took a bold risk that paid off. Steakhouses are quick to butter, season, and salt their steaks within an inch of their life, a center-spotlight superstar to shock and awe.
But this steak was a platform to explore the four different sauces and spreads served alongside it. Tangy and tart, black peppercorn, sweet potato puree, and roasted taro puree, each with their own unique flavor and something to offer, even when mixed and blended all across my plate. I’m reminded of the best of Thanksgiving dinners, where the turkey is the glue that brings a table full of delicious sides together in concert, but even that doesn’t quite describe the meal.
It was filling and satisfying, familiar yet surprising, and there was also an incredible sense of restraint in the cooking. Any amateur home chef will tell you that the hardest part is holding back, and truly trusting your ingredients, and at the end of my meal there I felt both my body and curiosity had been nourished.
What You Will Unearth Here
We have heard the story of Monteverde’s past and its dedication to preserving what exists in the present. But what has started to emerge as the turbulent times of the pandemic have passed is a new beginning for this little town in the mountains, and the seeds of a truly spectacular future.
Walk around in the forests, and you will find some truth older than humanity itself. But on the roads and the trails that take you there, you’ll find pillars that unite all those who visit Monteverde.
There is an innate curiosity in those who come here, no matter where in the world they’ve come from, and no matter their age. You’ll find families with three different generations all stopping to gaze up in the trees searching for a flash of green, and a community where dozens and dozens of the forest’s visitors and protectors can watch in quiet respect as rare birds and shy mammals go about their lives.
The Monteverde natives — the people who were raised here, who have spent more of their lives in the forest than outside it, who have toiled for generations to protect the land they saw value in when no one else did and the creatures that live there — they are the ones that set the example for us to follow. An example that says, “We are part of nature, and if you listen and walk quietly, you will unearth its mysteries.”
Karen is a woman of deep faith, and the longer I’ve spent getting to know her and her home, the more I have realized that no matter the denomination, there is always some faith in the people who visit here. When the faintest flash of an emerald wing can be all you see, when a brief moment on a branch is the extent of your interaction, and when so much of the life in the forest lies well above the canopy or deep beneath the ground, it is an exercise in faith to believe in the impossibly complex relationships that lead to a thriving forest.
But at Ocotea, I found a place where I wanted to believe. I wanted to let my curiosity overtake me, and for a few precious moments let the rest of the world fall away in a universal wonder that transcends background, nation, or age. And as I prepared for my departure the next morning, I did believe in one thing — that Monteverde is a destination everyone deserves to visit, preferably multiple times. Because it has something to teach, and something to offer.
I made my visit to Monteverde to see the migrating quetzals, to drink in nature, but what stuck with me was how much this trip stood out among my others. I have visited Monteverde before, but in none of the trips prior had I experienced so clearly what this little town in the mountains had to offer.
And that, I believe, is the true gift that Karen Fallas and her family have given to the world. There is a sharpness in the eyes of everyone who sets foot in the Ocotea organization, an understanding and appreciation of the still-somewhat-intangible magic that makes this place so beautiful, and an uncompromising will when it comes to the product they deliver.
It is like they are saying, “You may not know what makes this patch of earth so special yet, but in time you will. And you are welcome here as long as it takes you to find it.”
When you visit, your adventure will likely differ from mine. But if you choose Ocotea, you will find a place where the exceptional surface, personal touch, carefully selected tours, and local cuisine are all of the highest standard. But more importantly, in each of them, you will find a vision and appreciation of Monteverde, and all this gem in the mountains has to offer.
