Just off the road between Santa Elena and the Monteverde reserve, an enormous strangler fig has long since killed its host tree and left a hollow column of intertwined roots. The roots have fused into a natural ladder, and travellers have been climbing up the inside for years.
It is a tight, scratchy scramble and the exit at the top is a small opening 20-odd metres up in the canopy. Wear long sleeves, good shoes, and do it sober. Several tour operators include the tree on their bridge-and-canopy circuits; you can also find it independently if you ask locally. Closed during heavy rain.