La Fortuna

January 30^th-February 2^nd, 2015

Well it turned out that spending that extra day in Tamarindo proved to be costly, to the wallet at least.  I caught the collectivo (local bus) out of town at 9am and arrived in Liberia around 11:30.  There didn’t seem to be a bus for La Fortuna at the small bus terminal that I had arrived at but there was another terminal nearby so I walked over there and the lady behind the counter kept saying something in Spanish that I couldn’t understand.  Eventually she wrote down the names of a couple of towns I had to transfer through and instructed me to return to whence I’d came.  As I returned to the other terminal a couple of guys asked me where I wanted to go.  They turned out to be taxi drivers and they explained to me that I wasn’t going to be able to make my final connection from Tilaran to La Fortuna unless I hopped in a cab to get there for 60 bucks.  I was sceptical, surely they just wanted my money.  So I asked a couple of people standing off to the side of the terminal who looked like they worked for some bus company and they thought it was plausible.  A guy pulled up in a non-descript car and backed the story and he was a private cab drive and would take me there for $50.  Okay, still painful but at least I’d saved ten dollars. 

A little over an hour later we reached Tilaran and the driver asked me, for probably the third time, if I wanted him to take me all the way to La Fortuna for an extra $50.  No thanks I told him in my broken Spanglish, I have lots of time, and not so much money.  It was just about 1pm and I had heard from the original cab drivers that the last bus to La Fortuna was at 2:30…or “dos y media” in Spanish.  So I dismissed my friendly driver and walked over to the tiny bus terminal where there wasn’t even an information or ticket booth to ask about buses.  I inquired with a lady at a little snack bar and she said there wasn’t another bus today.  What?!?  I said that I heard it was at “dos y media” and she corrected me and stated it was at “doce y media”…which is 12:30.  Damn, not knowing a language can be costly!  What to do?  Might as well get another taxi, I had a reservation at a hostel in La Fortuna and Tilaran looked like a pretty quiet and dull town to hang out in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  I eventually found a cabbie and he wanted to charge me $70 but I explained in Spanish that I had a guy that was going to do it for $50 and we met halfway.  A hundred and ten bucks in taxis…not great travelling there Dave.  Oh well, once again, it’s only money.

The drive around the massive Arenal Lake on the curvy roads was scenic, even with some rain and low clouds.  It was easy to find my hostel in La Fortuna and true to its name, “Arenal Backpackers Hostel 5 Star”, it looked pretty sweet.  It features a pool with some swim up bar seats and a slack line across it, a trampoline, hammocks, a large grassy area and a covered chill out spot with a big screen TV, all for $12 for a dormitory bed.  As I was checking in I met another guy around my age, Torr from Sweden who happened to be staying in my room.  We later met up for a late lunch down the main road of the town and he turned out to be a boat builder/repairer.

The central park in La Fortuna:

The hostel hangout area:

The pool:

My dorm is on the second level behind the trees...pretty sweet for $12!

The next day I had considered hiking up a nearby volcano, Cerro Chato, which has been extinct for a long time and has a circular lake in its cone.  It is near Arenal Volcano which was erupting up until 2010 with lava running down its sides…what a sight that would have been!  You can still find many postcards showing what it looked like at night, but sadly that also dates the age of the postcards.  Torr was off on a tour as were some Germans who were staying in our dorm but it was a grey day and pissing down rain early in the morning.  I decided to delay my hike and have an “administration day”, writing emails, blogging and researching future trip details.

That evening, back at the hostel main area, I started chatting with Peter from the US, originally an east coaster, he now resides in California.  This was his first big trip abroad and he seemed to have his journey planned to a tee in order to maximize his time.  He was interested in the Cerro Chato hike so we agreed to head up there in the morning.  Thankfully the weather had turned and it was a nice partly cloudy day, perfect hiking weather.  We met Terry, an Oregonian, while paying for our entrance tickets and he joined us on our walk.  It took a bit more than two hours to get up the volcano even with the three of us taking our time, checking out interesting plants and trees, including what I concluded was a teak tree that had been cut down, some leaf cutter ant highways and some pretty flowers.  We were pleasantly surprised that the trail wasn’t terribly muddy from the big rains the day before.  Reaching the top there was a lookout point towards the Arenal Volcano which was mostly visible but had some clouds hugging its peak.  There were about 15 other hikers and everyone was in good spirits and took turns clicking photos with themselves and the mountain in the background.  Now it was time to head down to the lake.

Starting the hike:

Some lovely flowers:

Peter on the left and Terry in the middle:

Heading up through the lush jungle:

A little lizard with a colorful blue tail:

We were perplexed by this thing...it's a piece of wood with these strange brittle black bits all over it...did something strangle the tree?  Are the roots?  At first we were skeptical that it was actually a natural phenomenon, Terry blamed aliens.

This is the log further out:

Then there were pieces of wood with these strange markings:

And then the combo of the two:

Some cool big plant:

This is teak, sadly cut down for the trail:

We've reached the top!  With a partial view of Arenal Volcano:

The lake below:

Le voila!

The trail descended at a steep angle, perhaps 50-60 degrees and it was considerably muddier than the way up on the other side but thankfully there was the odd strategically placed rope to help you out.  Down at the lake there was no beach or open area to hang out at as the terrain probably continued its steep gradient under the water.  This also meant that this deep lake was quite frigid but Peter was still up to hopping in along with some young women from Toronto we had met along the way…while the 40 somethings, Terry and I, opted to stay dry.  After Pete’s swim, we climbed back up to the apex and were rewarded with some short views of the top of the volcano before making the trek back down to Peter’s rental car. 

Hiking down to the lake:

Peter enjoying the "refreshing" water:

We saw most of the peak of Arenal Volcano when we hiked back up:

Okay, our first clue on that mystery...here we have the strange markings and the small black bits on the same living tree...

And there it is...not sure what kind of tree or fern it is...but it's not aliens Terry!

On the way down (with respect to the hike at least):

The view towards La Fortuna:

Unlike the Maderas volcano on Ometepe in Nicaragua that got the finger, Arenal Volcano gets the thumbs up!

A leaf cutter ant highway:

Inspecting the highway:

Good...Evil...

The next stop was La Fortuna waterfalls which was nearby but cost us another $11 entrance fee.  It was almost all stairs to get down to the 80 meter tall falls and I gotta admit, it was a pretty nice one.  You couldn’t swim in the pool right at the waterfall but about 20 meters away you were allowed and once again Peter hopped in while Terry and I were happy to chill out although I did get my feet wet.

La Fortuna Waterfalls from above:

Interesting rock formations beside the waterfalls:

Peter on the left and Terry:

Look at my wingspan!

We headed back into town, picked up some beers and were in time for the Super Bowl.  I, along with most backpackers at the hostel, were cheering for the Seattle Seahawks while Peter’s roots required him to back the Patriots.  Peter and I bet a beer on the game and what a rollercoaster of a game it turned out to be with New England winning it thanks to a big gaffe by the Seahawks’ coach right at the end.  Writing this I now realize that Peter, sorry I never paid my debt.  I’ll have to get you on the flip side.

The next day, considered the least productive one of the year in the US, was fairly similar for us.  In the late afternoon Peter, Torr, another US woman Taylor originally from Georgia but now living in Idaho whom we met the day before, and I went to the natural hot springs outside of town.  There are numerous fancy hot spring spas around the area but this is the only free one, which is often frequented by the locals (and cheap tourists).  On the way we had to stop for a bunch of coatis crossing the road, one at a time.  It was the first time I’d seen these little black or dark gray mammals that resemble raccoons.  We reached the hot springs, where is actually a river with fairly warm water, I wouldn’t say hot, but bathtub warm and we sat in there for more than an hour having a few bevvies. 

It was a nice final activity for La Fortuna.