Finca Modelo Ecológica — Local services in Sierra

I've lived in Costa Rica for several months now, and Cronos is the best tour guide I've ever met! I heard that he's only been working for under 2 years, but with his life experience that's easily like 14 years. He knew all the trails perfectly and would wait patiently for the group to catch up before moving on.

Junior and Darnell were excellent guides too, this is the safest I have felt climbing in a very long time, the equipment is better than most climbing facilities in the US and they use properly rated (to USA standards) carabiners which can't be said for every tour I've done here.

Tree Climbing was fun, Canyoning was the best. I was happy they told us to pack a lunch for the down time between the tours, we also brought a change of clothing and waterproof phone cases.

I can tell that both Junior and Darnell were vigilant about safety and knew all of the ropes and clips perfectly. I really appreciated that. The fact that they offer tour pickup was also a huge plus to the whole package.

I booked a package tour with my wife here through the website directly and paid cash, which is a great way to do it. Remember to tip your guides and maybe bring a treat for Cronos too.

You will get very wet canyoning and you should dress accordingly.

A few small notes.

It does take 15-25 minutes to do the vertical rope climb for most people, during this time the repelling from the top isn't an option. It can be difficult to manage your climbs for everyone to get a chance to try that.

climbing the inside of the tree is a cool experience, you should try to do an up and down climb of the inside and enjoy the view. The outside of the tree was more difficult than I anticipated. My arms were sore from the vertical rope climb, but there was points where I had to jump to reach the rungs above. Still an overall good time, but it is a challenge.

They use ASAP brand safety catches which will stop you from falling too fast which is great.

The microwave control board was broken, and the buttons didn't work anymore so we ate our meal cold,...

We did two tours here, an afternoon and an evening, both 5 star amazing. The Canyoning tour: Rapelling down over flowing waterfall crevices was an experience I dont think I could very easily find and enjoy in my northern climate (US), making this one stand out for me over all the other adventures including the phenemonal river rafting, ziplining, horseback riding, and kayaking we did while in CR. My husband and son found this very fun and not too challenging. For me (mid 50s but I stay reasonably fit), it was definitely a physical challenge. For my 19 yo son with autism, he was able to attempt only the first short descent. Due to his body awareness/proprioception and motor planning deficits, he had trouble with the rock facing position and after finishing the first one chose to sit out the remainder. We do have photos of him from top to bottom getting soaked in the first short waterfall and so I am very proud for him getting and conquering this experience ! My friend from Brasil who helped take care of my son a few years back volunteered to wait with Sawyer while the 3 of us finished the other 5 descents, including the 132 foot decent #4. I think she may have sat out that one, anyhow, as having shorter legs puts you more in the water spray and looking down from the top was intimidating. Thank goodness for the practice on the 3 shorter ones prior to this big one!. The descent was doable for me but I needed to remain very focused on form and take it slow. The whole time, I felt the security of the ropes and harness and therefore was only concerned about a wide stance and foot placement to avoid getting overly doused in the water or bumping up agaist the rocks (elbows and knees were protected by their hard, well fastened pads). We got many photos and some video gifted to us for booking directly with them.

The Night tour that began with the ficas tree climb was amazing and all 5 of us...

We were looking into Night tours when we reached Monteverde. I had not booked anything in advance since it was raining almost every evening in June. There are so many companies providing Night tours in Monteverde. This place did not show up in any of the searches that we did. Out guide in hanging bridges told us about this place which has an old hollowed out ficus tree and that you can climb from inside all the way to the top (150 ft) to a platform. You come down the same way from inside as well. This is combined with a Night tour and dinner. The tree climbing caught our fancy and we booked at 4 pm for a 5 pm tour. The tree climbing was different from any other activity we have ever done. It was both thrilling and a little scary. We really needed to use all our strength to climb up. My 10 and 14 year olds could do it better than me. There are a couple of places where the tree gets narrow enough where I was scared that I might get stuck. Its is not advisable if you are claustrophobic. But you do not notice the height you are climbing to since you are inside and too focused on keeping on your balance and figuring out where to pull and climb next. The view from the platform up is beautiful. It was cloudy and drizzling when we went up, but in dry season you can sometimes catch the sunset. On the platform you are again tethered to a rope so you feel safe and there is no chance of falling down. The night tour was great as well. For dinner we went to their restaurant back in town which was great since the tour ended after 8 and it would have been difficult to find food on our own as some restaurants start to close by 9pm. My only advise to them was to advertise more. They have something others don’t and should be able to get a lot more traffic...