Costa Rica - La Fortuna

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My friend gave me the choice for the next stop and due to the excessive rain, I figured, if we are gonna get wet anyway, hiking in rainforests, relaxing in hot springs, seeing sloths and a volcano sounded great to me.

Bus experience

We took the early bus from Playa Samara to Nicoya. Knowing the location of the multiple bus stations at this point, we made our way directly to the station to catch the bus to Liberia. Here we double and triple checked the buses and waited for the ride to Canas. In Canas, we each got an empanada as a snack. When it was time leave, I got a nice comment from the lady on the bus to Tilaran because when I asked the driver the price, he told me in Spanish and I gave him exact change. She was like, (in Spanish) wow, very good. Your Spanish must be good! I was like, ummm... "un poco!".

It was a nice hour drive through the scenic countryside, getting into a more mountainous area. There were lots of windmills here as well, then you get a nice view of the lake below. When we arrived in Tilaran, we were basically the last off and the driver asked where we were going, we said La Fortuna. He said... oh, since it is low season, they do not have the afternoon bus today. What???? We were momentarily speechless. He said we would either need to stay the night or get a taxi. I was like, we already paid for the room in La Fortuna, so let's just get a taxi. The driver then talked to a taxi driver across the street and helped us negotiate a price. Man, that bus driver was super awesome! We would have been screwed and grouchy otherwise.

We had a nice taxi ride for another hour through the mountains to La Fortuna, with the driver trying point out a few points of interest as we got closer. He got us very close to our hostel and I gave him a bit more than the negotiated price because he was great and the ride was longer than we had thought. We walked down the street until we found our hostel, Hotel la Choza, along a back street with a nice view of Volcan Arenal. The guy at reception checked us in pretty quickly and gave us a map, telling us the bus would be there at 4pm sharp to take people to the hot springs (apparently we were supposed to sign up for this, which he didn't tell us). Our room seemed pretty nice and we had our own bathroom.

We walked to a restaurant nearby for food - I think we were both starving at this point. The waiter was overly friendly, the beer was cold, and the food was delicious. I got Tacos al Pastor - so yum! But you can definitely see the difference in prices compared to the rest of Latin America - it is basically US prices. Around $10-$15 each for lunch.

Tabacon Thermal Springs

We got back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits and waited for the free shuttle. This is what had sold us on the hostel. We got the last two seats and the nice driver took us to Tabacon Thermal Springs, a free area with nice warm waters where we had almost 90 minutes to chill. It was pretty with plenty of room to find a spot to relax and feel the warm water flow over you. L was not a fan, spa type environments are not really his thing.... Then it started to rain lightly, then pour! Our dry clothes got wet, thankfully my camera was in my purse, which got wet and later dried. We walked back to the meeting point in the pouring rain with the rest of the guests and got back just as the rain started to let up. I was able to take a hot shower before changing and we walked back to town for a light dinner. We stopped at a street food place as we were both still somewhat full from our late lunch. It was just one lady working and she made us each an empanada, which I only ate about 2/3 of. We went back to the hotel, but the toilet in our room would not flush. L went to tell the manager whose first response was "what did you do?" L got the plunger, and tried, but the toilet would not flush, so we wound up having to use the shared bathrooms upstairs.

Volcán Arenal National Park

The next morning, we got a good filling breakfast at the hostel. It was fresh cooked eggs, rice, beans, and some fruit. It was a bit disconcerting to see the many signs posted around the room and under the glass on the table, though. "Check out is 11:00. Not 11:01!" "No switching beds!" It was a bit strange, they seemed a little hostile for a hostel. Hehehe.

Anyway, we ordered an uber to take us to the Volcán Arenal National Park for a morning of hiking. L took his backpack with some water for us, but otherwise we travelled light. It was about a 20-30 minute drive and the guy dropped us right at the park entrance. Perfect. We had to walk up to the drive up ticket window and two nice ladies helped us, giving us directions and preliminary information. Our first stop, as she suggested, was straight up to see the view point of the volcano. This was along a drivable road, but about halfway up was the parking area. We saw a few cars, and passed a few people occasionally, but were mostly alone. We got to the top, but the volcano was mostly covered in clouds. However, the signs describing the history of the volcano and its eruptions, were very interesting.

The park was founded in September 1991. Unfortunately, there was an eruption in December 1991, so not open long! We got to walk over the 1992 lava flows resulting from those eruptions later on. After the viewpoint, we walked back down until we found the first trail, Las Coladas, which would take us to these 1992 flows. This was a beautiful narrow trail through the rainforest; I kept one eye on the trees for sloths, but did not expect to see any. We got towards the end of the trail where you climb metal stairs up and then scramble over some rocks. Up at that viewing point, you are not allowed to go any further for safety reasons (small, but clear signs blending in with the natural surroundings). Here you get a nice view of the volcano as well as the young lava. We went back down the stairs and along another part of the trail until we get to another location to climb up and scramble over more rocks for more views of the countryside; this time, we had the place to ourselves. Coming back down, we took the El Ceibo trail, which takes you along another route (we could actually hear the road here), and past a giant old tree after which the trail is named. We took the Las Heliconias route back to the welcome center; I was laughing over giant leaves which reminded me of the face huggers from the Alien movies. Overall, I think we were here for about 3 hours and walked about 6km. We were sweating profusely due to the humidity, thankfully we took plenty of water, but it was otherwise a beautiful day.

It only started to rain about 3 minutes before we got back to the entrance. From here, L got wifi from the ladies and ordered a car to come get us. We had to wait about 30 minutes, but it was worth it as our driver was very nice. We conversed, in Español of course, and I told him I would fly back soon and he said he would take me to San Jose for a fair price, so gave me his card. Yay. He also dropped us at his recommended restaurant. I thought he was saying "mi amiga" - that his friend had a restaurant, but it was called La Hormiga ("ant"). It was cute and quite busy, but they were efficient and the food was good. We each got his recommendation of a national dish, Casado, which is rice, beans, plantains, lettuce, and tortillas served with a meat (I chose chicken, L steak I think).

Another flood!

We got back to the hostile hostel, and, oh yes, the room was flooded. Second time in second place! The maids had come into clean obviously, but the shower was full of water and floor of the room was clearly wet, though no standing water. However, they had placed our slightly wet luggage (and my poor purse!) on furniture. Ugh. That was it - I booked a regular hotel for the next night and paid a bit extra for a suite with a view (a bit extra means $60 total). In the meantime, we went back to town to get a drink at an expensive very touristic bar/restaurant. It was fine, we wound up staying for two drinks, but it was so overpriced and had a strange vibe. We came back and he called his parents while I uploaded some photos and such.

We decided to go back out for dinner. After leaving the hostel, we walked around the corner and L suddenly yelled "WTF is that!?!?!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something and assumed a rat.... but it was just an armadillo! A cute little armadillo, scared by the yell. I was laughing so hard and he's like, we don't have animals like that walking around in Africa... at least not in the middle of town! I could not stop laughing. I guess it would look alien if you had never seen one, but I was surprised this was his first time.

Anyway, we were walking up the road a bit passing a timeout market type place looking for somewhere that had his favorite El Salvadorian type food, but it was closed, so we went back to the street food place and got food again, but was not nearly as good as the night before. We picked up drinks and went back to the hostel to play some more cards before going to bed. While we were outside on our patio playing cards, the cleaner was trying to pump the water from the bathroom. He was friendly, but exhausted and said due to all the heavy rains, and since everywhere has only septic systems, the ground was completely saturated with no where for the water to go. The other two rooms on either side of us were also pumped out earlier. So, it was not L clogging the toilet the night before.... Hostile hostel indeed.

Bogarin Trail

The next morning, after another good breakfast, we went sloth hunting. We looked up the two trails the night before and the more marketed one was more expensive (like $35 each!) and you had to go with a guide, while Bogarin Trail had an option for a $10 self-guided tour. I don't think L was overly excited about it, but what else was there to do. We had passed the entrance in the search for food the night before, so knew right where to go - about a 10 minute walk from the hostel.

We were among the first to arrive and met a very nice woman at the entrance, and I bought a cold bottle of water for $1, which came in handy as it got hotter and more humid. She showed us the map and gave us a recommended route and said we could come back all day long if we wanted, just keep our wristbands on. So, we started along the well marked path and soon we came upon a guide with a couple looking up into the trees with their cameras out. Sure enough, we could see a sloth hanging out and what was even better - she had a baby! It was not immediately obvious - I caught vague glimpses of the baby, but when I looked at my photos later, sure enough, it was clearer. I took tons of photos; the other girl was just as excited as I was! The other guy and guide were focused on good photos, while L seemed a bit bored. Happy for me, but he said he likes landscapes better. LOL.

We continued on and found a few other more interesting things - like a huge line of ants carrying leaf fragments to their nest. Some birds. On our second, inner loop, we found the viewing spot for a great view of Volcán Arenal. Then we started heading back to the entrance and came across another group looking hard into the trees and sure enough, there was a mama and baby sloth hanging out, this time upside down on thin branches. Very clear and she was moving more, slowly of course. I was so amazed (the loud Americans next to me gave a less spiritual experience than our first quiet encounter). I had overheard one of the guys saying this was better than the other sloth in the tree, and sure enough, I spotted one solo up in the canopy as we made our way out. So, very successful morning!

Monte Real and Last afternoon

After coming back from the sloth experience, we returned to the hotel to get our stuff (it was well before 11 am) and move to the next hotel, Monte Real. It was about 5 short blocks to walk and it was totally worth it. It was still early, but the room was ready. It was on the second floor with a big, functioning bathroom. We took turns taking long hot showers and while he was, I did a quick yoga session on the big balcony with views of the river below.

We headed out for lunch at the place from the first day, Fusion Latina, and I got Tacos al Pastor again. We were there to watch a soccer game - Liverpool vs Real Madrid in champions league final (I think). After the first half, L said he was good to go, so we headed back but noticed what seemed to be a bar upstairs in a random place halfway there. We went upstairs and they were so friendly! I think it was called Balcon Arenal. We got to see the end of the game with nice fruity drinks!

Later that night we walked back out for dinner and wound up going to the timeout market place (Mercadito Arenal) and, while a bit pricey, it was a success. We got some tiny tacos and amazing drinks! The Voodoo Bar & Cocktails made drinks for show - one was in dry ice and he added a spritz of something. They also tasted good. We picked up drinks and pretzels for our last night hanging out on the balcony at our awesome hotel room. The next morning, we had a good breakfast at the pool side restaurant. Right after, we observed a sloth just sleeping up in the tree right in front of the door to the room. I came out repeatedly to catch a glance, making sure it was there. L had to leave for his shuttle around 9am to head to Monteverde. My taxi came at around 10.

Drive to San Jose

The guy I had met previously was unable to drive me as he was sick (hungover?) so he sent his cousin instead. Same price, but for just a few dollars more, he took me the long way since I had plenty of time. Along the route, he drove up into the mountains and past two huge waterfalls (San Fernando and La Paz, I think). Of course it started to rain just as soon as we reached them! But they were cool. The first one was a very tall one you could see at a distance from a restaurant. Cute hummingbirds were fluttering around the whole time and the valley was lush and green and misty. The next one was a massive flow just under a bridge; we pulled over and I quickly got out to snap a photo, but did not want to affect traffic. It was a pleasant drive, and I just enjoyed seeing the countryside. We got to the airport well in time, I got on a shuttle to get my PCR test, the results of which came back in about 15 minutes. The airport was actually pretty nice and easy to navigate. I did some souvenir shopping and sat down for a good lunch and beer before boarding my flight - no one next to me either. Then it was back to the US for one more night before flying to Dubai!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sloth mama and baby
Nice photo. I didn't see a sloth when I was in Costa Rica... guess I need to go back.