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Published: August 8th 2006
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Intro to La Fortuna
La Fortuna is the nearest village to the spectacular Volcan Arenal, which looms 6 kilometers to the west. The volcano was dormant until 1968 when huge explosions triggered lava flows that killed nearly 80 people. It retains its almost perfect conical shape and the degree of activity varies from week to week, but nightfall can often offer an opportunity to watch red-hot lava flowing and incandescent rocks flying through the air. The town has also become a popular base for day trips to Refugio Nacional Cano Negro near the Nicaraguan border.
Our Experience
We weren't sure we were going to be able to make it to La Fortuna in one day because we'd have to catch three seperate buses (and the last bus we needed left at 12:30pm). If we missed our last bus, we'd be stuck in that town until the next morning. Additionally, we had to wait to leave Liberia until 9AM because that's when we would be getting our clean laundry back. So, we woke up and ate breakfast, got our laundry, packed quickly, and left. We walked a block to the main plaza, caught a cab to the Liberia bus terminal, and took the next bus headed south to Cañas. From Cañas we caught a bus to Tilarán. Tilarán was our tough connection... and our bus pulled into town at 12:45... 15 minutes late! But, we were lucky, the bus we needed actually waited for the bus we were on to arrive! So, we made a quick street-side transfer and we were on our way to La Fortuna. We had to stand for a few minutes initially, but eventually the bus emptied a bit and we were both able to sit down
for the approx. 3 hour journey to La Fortuna.
The countryside we drove through on our way to La Fortuna was truly fantastic. For most of the trip, we went along the edge of a beautiful lake surrounded by lush forests and picturesque mountains. There are also lots of beautiful streams in Costa Rica. We arrived in La Fortuna around 4 in the afternoon, and were greeted at the bus stop by a young man with information on a nearby hostel. We liked what he had to say (hot water, fan, $5/person, etc.) and decided to check it out. We liked what we saw so we decided to check in. After checking in, we headed out to find some supper and wound up at a slightly pricey pizza joint. The food was good (and we managed to avoid a rain shower that passed by), so it all worked out. During dinner, we debated whether we should do a half-day volcano tour, whitewater rafting, or a canopy tour. Upon consulting the book for a while, I quickly realized that we'd already seen a really cool volcano (Pacaya), and there would be more whitewater rafting from San Jose and in Panama,
so we chose to do a canopy tour. The book said that this was one of the last and best places to do it. After dinner, we went walking around the little town, signed up for our canopy tour after looking at various prices, and found some internet before getting to bed.
The people we booked our canopy tour from said to be at their shop at 10:30, so we got up a bit early and had breakfast at a restaurant right next to our pickup point. The pickup was right on time, and it was only a quick 10 minute drive to the place. They ran us through the usual safety talk and how-to talk (it was a pretty basic how-to lesson ... enjoy the ride and use your padded glove to keep yourself pointed straight and as a brake on the line if you need to), and we were soon on our way. Funny note: they took us to the starting point of the tour in a trailer hauled by a tractor. Well, about 2 minutes into the voyage we all heard a tire blow on the trailer. Fortunately, this clearly was not a new thing for
these people as they had it changed and good to go really quickly.
Soon we had our gear on and were set to go. We walked for about 15 minutes up into the jungle to the first platform. A canopy tour is basically a series of zip lines in the top of the jungle canopy. Everyone wears a rock climbing harness which is hooked onto the zip line on a roller, and off you go (at very high speeds). This tour was particularly good in my opinion because almost all of the zip lines were above deep valleys and a number of waterfalls. The view was absolutely spectacular. One of the lines was a kilometer long! I've never traveled an entire kilometer that quickly without being in some kind of vehicle before. Lila and I never had any problems reaching the end of each zip line. This, however, was not the case for some of our fellow tour members. If you brake on some of the long lines, you won't make it to the other side. Also, if you mess up and get turned around, you won't make it on those long lines. If you get stuck in the
middle of the zip line, a guide at the other end has to come out, latch onto you, and pull you in manually. Believe me, they were really not too excited about doing that. In short, the whole thing was amazing, and our pictures tell a far better story than I can with words.
We rode back from the end of the tour on horseback. I really don't think they had enough big horses for the big guys, so of course I ended up with a horse that clearly should've been ridden by a kid. Hell the horse and I probably could've traded places on the ride back. The guide said that she was small but strong. I really wanted to tell him that I weigh more than I look, but I doubt he would have understood. Anyways, this horse decided it liked to fall behind the group, realize its mistake, and run to catch up. Run. I don't so much do running on a horse. At some point I really do want to have kids, and this was simply no conducive to that. Then it rained.
Lila's Note: For those of you who have ridden horseback even
somewhat seriously... when Joe says the horse "ran" he means it "trotted." We didn't break in to so much as a cantor - ever. We walked 80% of the time and then we did a little trotting. Seriously, if his nether regions couldn't handle a trot, he would have been in a whole other world of hurt if it had actually "ran" (err... galloped).
We finally made it back to the entrance, walked around the butterfly and frog gardens, and waited our ride back to town. Upon arriving back in town, we ate at a much cheaper restaurant than the night before, got online for a bit, and went back to the hotel for a much-needed shower. We then decided to go out to this club that a number of people had recommended to us that day. The lack of a mirror made getting ready rather difficult, but we prevailed and made it out there by about 10:15. It was clearly a place that draws in a lot of tourists. All the bartenders could at the very least say numbers in English. After we'd had a number of drinks, the place started getting really packed, and we went over
to watch the dancing. The people down here know how to dance. They really don't mess around, but unfortunately, they need space to really do their thing. After a while, the dance floor got pretty packed, and the dancing degenerated into the same kinda thing you see in clubs back home. After a while we decided it was time to call it a night, and we grabbed a cab back to the hotel (of course at a higher price than we paid to get there in the first place). Interestingly, the entire night cost us less than $20 USD. Amazing considering we had a total of 10 drinks. Beers and mixed drinks cost about 2 bucks a piece including tip!!!
We slept in the next morning because our bus wasn't due to leave until 12:45. Once we finally awoke, we packed up our things, had some lunch, and hopped on a bus bound for San Jose.
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Jane
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Canopy practice...
Now aren't you glad you did the Ropes course last spring??? What a gorgeous site and great way to see it.... Can't wait to see all these pictures...