La Fortuna: Canopy tours, horse-riding, volcanos, diseased toes, nature trails, hot springs and a bloody fight

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We Finally Get Out of the Crumbling Cement of San Jose
One must eventually get out into the sticks, musn't one - see a bit of greenery and the like. So we hit Fortuna and Volcan Arenal, some four hours west by rickety bus. It was a dash to the bus-station, in particular since we didnt know which bus-station exactly, but with some break-neck taxi'ing, we made the bus with seconds to spare. The trip soon took us out of the urban density of San Jose and into the rich and verdant Costa Rican country-side (largest percentual of national parks in any country - 25%!i(MISSING)s protected), and we got chatting with a girl who's lived some years in New York of all places before returning to her homeland to study and work.

On arrival at La Fortuna, we were hounded by people selling rooms as soon as we descended the steps, but we fancied checking out Arenal Backpackers Resort first - fookin expensive at $50 a night between the two of us for a private room, but it had a pool and a view on the volcano (but NOT the one advertised on all the promo photos! i.e. it ISNT situated directly behind the swimming pool and continuously spewing out lava...which might be a bit disconcerting anyway I guess). Anyway, it was a really nice room with huge bed, and after trying out the hammocks, we just spread ourselves out on that for a bit. After a shower, Sofie then donned her nurse's hat (no, I am not in the middle of a fantasy here, I am being metaphorical) and had a look at my toe.

"Oh my God, that's horrible!"
"Well, thank you doctor."

I took my first pill which, apparently (according to the pharmacist in San Jose), would restore my immune system. She then put a couple of drops into the eye of my awful and brand new affliction and I sat with my leg up for a couple of minutes. In theory, it would be gone in a week....but I couldnt see it myself. Anyway, to record the moment, I took a macro photo of the thing which can be seen somewhere on this blog entry!

Wandering down to the open-air reception, the bloke behind the bar spoke amazing English and helped us sort out a room back in San Jose for later -- at sister hostel Pangea Backpackers (more on THAT craphole in a later blog). He didnt have too many kind words for Nicaraguans though, blaming them for most of the rap Costa Ricans get for crime against tourists here (something I would witness first-hand later in April 2007! - see my 'Robbery' blogs which helped dissipate my good feelings towards this country). Anyway, he genuinely wanted to help tourists and was full of info and naturally good-natured. He recommended a canopy tour as a "must-do", and instead of the famous Monteverde one, which was a little far away, we plumped for a deal including the La Fortuna canopy rides, nature trail, horse-riding, volcano, and all finishing in a spa and restaurant - all for about $80 a head I think.

Riding the Wire
I was feeling pretty nervous in the back of the truck that shuttled us into the forest, thinking about being suspended from high up in the forest by this thin cable, but Sofie's nerves focussed on the horseback riding to come after (apart from dogs, horses are her next worst phobia). I wasnt worried about riding those sorry-looking nags we splashed mud on as we passed by, my bottom was twitching with thoughts of the canopy cable snapping, or my wrists being shredded by the wires whilst zipping along at speed (prior to joining the tour, I hadnt even realised that it was YOU who controlled things and that you in fact did move at speed) or smacking full-pelt into a tree. The setting couldnt have been better though, and in the midst of the rain forest, we had some luck as the sun was out the whole time (weather, the hostel guy explained to us, is absolutely hit and miss at La Fortuna - changes daily. It had been wazzing it down the previous day and night). Anyway, arrive we did, and the guides seemed pretty professional (we had a demo and quick ride on a ground-level cable before getting in the truck) and nice friendly types.

There were four of us altogether, with two guides - a skinny guy and a tiny girl, but they were confident. And thankfully, as strong as oxes too, as we later would find out. From the first platform, the magnitude of this endeavour sank in - we could see cables, long long cables, spanning high over huge expanses of forest. "Jesus, they must be at least 100m up!" I said (cried) to Sofie. The guy told us that this place had the longest cables, at 1km, but I figured you just got to travel longer. I didnt think so much about the height (or speed). Anyhow, the first cable was easy and fun, lulling us into a sense of security. You have to lean back, they said, and this easy cable (there were a dozen to do) made leaning back seem correct. Then we did a longer run, which was also ok. But the problems started when we hit the very long wires. Firstly, the setting is nothing short of breathtaking, zipping along at speed with the wind in your face and seeing the tops of the trees whizzing by below; sometimes a cable took you within a metre or two of extremely tall trees and you'd slap a couple of thin branches. Cool. The thing was though, such long wires cannot be totally straight, so there is maybe 50m of incline to climb at the receiving end. Now, they'd taught us one or two things such as do NOT put your back hand (protected inside a specially designed thick leather glove, used to prevent spin) on the wire so hard that it slows you down. BUT, they never told you what to do otherwise when you start rotating and are then flying down this cable, so high up and fast, perpendicular to the direction of travel. Naturally you use your hand to bring you back into the correct line, stomach muscles cramping as you simultaneously maintain a slight lean to the back. But this is like applying a break. So you let go, and then turn again. Bloody nightmare. I started feeling highly uncomfortable, and then, total embarrassment as I ground to a perfect halt about 50m from the finish and at least 50m above the forest floor. I tried to sit up straight and relax my stomach but it was hard work. This thing isnt a exactly a gondola, so I resolved to get out of the situation forthwith. I rotated myself 180 degrees as we'd been instructed and began hauling myself back along the cable, one hand passing over the other directly on the cable, up the steady incline. How tiring was that! I was sweating absolute cobs and wanted to puke - I'm not a fit man and at times like this it is painfully evident. But I am a determined motherF%&%# and would get back.

But I kept stopping, and I was holding things up. A few minutes later the little elf of a girl, who'd gone first, hooked herself on to the cable and came out to me. Her small legs hooked around my chest, and as quick as a flash and with the agility of a rhesus monkey, she dragged us both up that cable...me trying as hard as possible to help with my own ham-fisted hand over hand action. We got back pretty quickly and after descending on to the platform, I apologised and then asked how do you stop this rotating. They couldnt really help and on the next cable, I got stuck again, and so did the other guy and he was much bigger and heavier than me.....this time the skinny guide had gone first and he too proved his strength as he pulled the big Costa Rican customer along the wire for the home stretch. I'd stopped not too far from the end this time and managed to drag myself home. Talking to them again, and with Sofie - who'd had no problems - I realised that this lean-back tactic was useless, and with the wind etc, you just start spinning. Far better was to pull yourself towards the wire hanging down that you're harness to, so you sit up more.........I did this and problem solved - I kept my speed up and only needed a tiny touch with my back hand now and then to keeping me facing where I was going....and no damn stomach-muscles needed hardly either. I particularly enjoyed one where we transported ourselves way high over a gorge, white water crashing beneath over black rocks....a fleeting notion of things going suddenly very awry comes, but then goes again as you savour the adrenalin rush and very soon a bunch of faces bearing big grins comes into view, and you're sad it's over.

The very last cable wasnt too long, and on this one you actually needed to brake hard, since we had to descend and finish at ground level. I was good at braking though and had no problem, but Sofie hardly managed to slow herself at all; the skinny guide was ready for her though, and stopped her suddenly via a rope that was looped around the wire, like a jet landing on an aircraft carrier! It is a comical memory I will always keep, her face red with worry but laughing at the same time, and then her body jolting like a rag doll's, as if she had no control. She had been scared though, "I just couldnt slow down!"

Horses
The horse tour was fairly uneventful after our airborned cable adventure, but it still took Sofie a while to settle down- she crapped herself each time it moved its head. I got mine going into a fast trot - maybe even a canter - at some point, and though I was pushing it, it didnt get into a gallop (which I was glad about, but at the same time, was preparing myself for). There were some beautiful scenes though - the landscape is so lush and green here - and Volcan Arenal was in most of the backdrops. We visited some tribespeople too, or at least, one of their 'shops' where we bought some balsawood scary masks. To add to the atmosphere on the way back, the heavens opened without warning and it absolutely poured down. Being on my high-speed steed I got back to the stables a few minutes into it so escaped most of the rain, but Sofie arrived completely soaked to the skin, as did the others. She was pleased with herself though having calmed her nerves where horses were concerned.

Nature Walk and Arenal at night
If the horsing around was tame, then this was positively easy - except for the bloody mosquitoes. But hiking around a rain forest isnt something you can do every day, and I did my best to take in what they said about all the plant and bird species, lending the guides massive binoculars at times. It was also the first time I got to see apes in their natural habitats though. A bit later on, as it got dark, I heard what I thought was a jumbo taking off, so didnt flinch. I just carried on cricking my neck trying to observe a monkey scrambling through the branches high up, its young on its back. But then it came again, and the whole forest floor trembled. "Oh, that's Arenal" said the guide. "Bloomin' eck" I thought and most probably said. So silly to imagine there would be an airport with 747s taking off nearby.......but it didnt occur to me that was actually Volcan Arenal letting off a bit of steam. As we emerged from the darkening forest into the clearing, dusk had fallen and the atmosphere was pretty other-worldy. Arenal just sat there, massive, in the distance, siloutted against a grey sky. Occasional sparks of bright orange would spit out of its summit, and from the sides hot rocks could be seen lolloping downwards. We stayed until darkness fell, which wasn't late, and - given we were volcano virgins - were impressed by this lava show....We learned that the volcano was actually 12km beyond us, and this is effectively a perimeter enforced by the authorities (just wait till I would get to Guatemala).

Paradise Found - Tabacon Hot Springs! (Click Next to see all pics)

After the walking they took us to this magic spot - a 500 dollar per night hotel with hot springs and waterfalls, complete with fantastical buffet, all as part of our one day fee. Tabacon was the name. It really was a magical place. There are barstools you can swim up to in various parts of the main open-air pool, from where you could sip a cocktail and look up at the lava dribbling down the side of Arenal. But it was more fun to wander around in a maze of footpaths among the trees and bamboo, where one pool after another was joined by fast-flowing streams of red hot water....each one was usually filled with four or five people, cocktails in hand - now this was BACKPACKING. We found our own little spot, parking our bottoms down under a tiny personal waterfall - no doubt the builders of the place had a hand in the design but we werent complaning....such a welcome butt massage after a day in harnesses and saddles.

Another fun thing was a large steaming hot waterfall that you could climb behind and pretend you were in a steam-room. Sitting with your legs over the edge though, with your head getting pounded by the heavy, naturally heated water was also quite good. When we were finally steamed out we showered and got ready for what turned out to be a fabulously sumptuous meal, or meals: seafood of every type was the order of the day, but there were innumerable salads and appetizing concoctions to go with, and to the side of it. Amazing. Huge fresh prawns, octopus and squid were fried up right in front of you and you could wash it down with lip-smacking exotic fruit drinks (which are indigenous as opposed to exotic here). The desserts didnt disappoint either so I had to almost be carried out to the taxi when we were going home. We ate dinner with another couple and none of us could believe all that we got that day for the money. Talking to a maitre d' type later I learned that they would soon be closing the hotel's food and pool to non-guests such as ourselves since, rather unsurprisingly, word had got around and freeloaders like us were filling the place. So, nice that we got chance to go there.

The next day we decided to check out Tabacon's apparent rival - Baldi Hot Springs, which had the advantage of being walking distance from our place. Oh dear! Talk about a mockery.....though both of us agreed that IF we'd never seen Tabacon, then Baldi would have still been a nice enough place to hang out for a while. But we had been well spoilt and it was just so basic, and design-wise, pretty tasteless - the bar (limited menu) and other sills were (chipped) yellow and blue tiles, and towards the back of the site you had to negotiate a building site (evidently Baldi was still a work in progress) to get to the outlying pools. All they had done was redirect some of the water among various concrete channels. After saying that, I dont want to be completely unfair as there were one or two large pools with nice details... It must have impressed someone though, as a girl we met in another town later started talking about a nature and canopy tour concluding with a visit to these wonderful springs, and given her enthusiasm, we assumed it was Tabacon. Mais non, she'd been to bloody Baldi and we had to stop ourselves from telling her how sad the place is compared to Tab. From this point, anything rather lacking on our trip would be labelled 'baldi' and anything rather fantastic was 'tabacon'.

Later that night at a locals bar, we met an Austrian guy who told us he'd booked to go and see Arenal's lava with none other than a "Mr Lava Lava".....at 6am the next day. I think he wasnt too impressed with the early start nor that we'd had a brilliant day the day before at Tabacon - including lava. Apparently though, Mr Lava Lava (we saw him and the Austrian later the next morning, and indeed, Mr Lava Lava was emblazened on the side of his car) guarantees you will see lava. But just how much qualifies is hard to say, cos the thing is hardly gushing out. Leaking, might be a better way of putting it.

The day after this, we'd intended leaving the town but I got stuck in the only internet place, uploading bloody pics from the US leg of our tour, and so we decided to go for the half-day ticket at Tabacon! For $45 you get to have lunch, swim etc and then enjoy the big dinner. This time though, it wasnt seafood and was a little bit of a let-down, but it was ok and we loved the sipping cocktails in the pool part, paying for it with notes kept dry inside the waterproof little tube they give you that hangs around your neck. This time we got a pretty good show from Arenal though - lava flowed pretty intensively forming a bright orange triangle against the black of the night-sky, the volcano itself invisible. That night we went for a beer at the locals bar again, but things did get a little awry - some kind of altercation broke out with one or two of them and the next thing we hear is glass exploding, and then a young thin man clutching the top of his head...blood was gushing out in a manner that put Arenal to shame. The fight was broken up though as a woman started screaming, and then a policeman arrived. Thankfully, that was the end of it, but me and Sof lost heart in the idea of staying put so downed our beers, and left.

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Photos

Finally, we get our asses out of sad San Jose....
....and are bound for La Fortuna - arguably our first real travelling in Latin America thus far.

Nice pool at Arenal Backpackers.....
....but is the volcano in the background like all the ads around Costa Rica? No!

Yuk!
For a good couple of weeks i had this rotten toe disease!

The Elf - diminuitive, but strong
Ok, Sofie is standing on a box