Costa Rica Day 4: Drive to La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano and Tabacon

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Puntarenas is in the upper middle section of the central Pacific coast; in the center of many things, but a drive to get anywhere. As I was researching things to do in Costa Rica I decided that the two and a half hour drive to Arenal may not be worth it if we didn’t stay a night. So that is what I decided to do, I actually found a really cool tree house style hotel, unfortunately they were booked up. I decided on a place called Racho Cerra Azul in La Fortuna. I chose this place because I was looking for something a little different. We were doing the resort thing already and I wanted a change of pace. This place had great reviews on TripAdvisor and looked perfect. Little cabins with few amenities. A mile long hike to La Fortuna waterfall, a hiking trail behind the grounds, and close to the volcano. Alvaro responded timely to my emails and I had the place booked before we I even left to LA.


We woke up and got started pretty leisurely. Sophie and I walked to breakfast before coming back to the room to pack; condensing down to just one suitcase and my backpack. The drive was a beautiful one, if not a little stressful. I mentioned in a previous post about the lack of signs and the quality of the roads, these factors definitely came into play here. We took a wrong turn in San Ramon which was taking us further east than we really needed to go. We found a “road” that would take us back to the right path and we took it. This was a narrow rock/dirt road with steep inclines, declines, and tight turns. I said a little prayer that we would not blow a tire on the road as we drove through what was the equivalent of backwoods farm country. It must have worked because before long we were back on our way. The rest of drive was pretty uneventful there was some fog and rain, but nothing worse than I have seen at home. We pulled onto the road that takes you to La Fortuna falls and found the place right away; after the two and a half hours anyway.


Alvaro was there to check us in, a happy little guy who seems to be enjoying life, he told us what time the tour would come to pick us up and let us know about breakfast and the hiking trail out back. The cabin was perfect; front and back porch, complete with a hanging hammock, AC, clean beds and a shower. All you could need. The grounds were covered with all kinds of flora and fauna, I even spotted a couple of lizards running around. We dropped our things in the room and headed into town for a quick meal before our tour.


El Establo was one of the first restaurants that we saw so we pulled in and settled in at a table. I really enjoy speaking local languages, when our server spoke only Spanish it forces me not to cheat. We ordered ceviche, which is really big here I ate it at least a dozen times, and casado, a typical Costa Rica dish. (we were told by Juan to have this.) Casado is beans and rice, chicken, plantains, some avocado and a small salad. It was really wonderful. After we paid the check we headed back to Rancho Cerra Azul to catch our tour.


Once again we lucked out and it was only us. These private tours were great. This time we had a guide name Franklin. Franklin was excellent; I can’t say enough good things about this guy. He cracked jokes, quoted song lyrics, and gave us a historical, geological, agricultural, and archeological lesson. He pointed out plants and some of their uses, different flowers, and animals. Some of it was a repeat, but never dull. He would tell us the story, but then give us an example, one example of this was how he made a tea from a plant that helped some German chaps get over a three day hangover, such a great guide. The lava flows reminded me so much of Iceland, but due to the speed of plant growth the volcano here had many more plants. The views of the valley and Lake Arenal were fantastic, but the volcano rising up out of the plain with smoke pouring out of the top and flowing down the sides. We had a great view of the volcano which was evidently a rarity, it can often be covered with clouds. Twenty minutes after reaching the peak of the trail we made our way down the trail and back towards the van. That is when the rain started, shortly after reaching the van was when the rain started coming down in buckets.


Another famous thing around Arenal are the hot/thermal springs. The biggest and best, from everything I read, is Tabacon. The place is amazing. Even in the rain, heavy rain, the place was magnificent. There are waterfalls, tropical fauna all around, dozens of pools, tons of paths that go every which direction, it is easy to get lost in this place... in a good way. We found our own secluded spot and sat and enjoyed the hot springs, just relaxing away in the warm pools. Later we found giant toads hopping towards the lights on the stairs to eat the flies around it. After a shower we I picked up a few souvenirs, and we headed off to enjoy the dinner spread they have set up here. Franklin came and picked us up ten minutes after nine and took us back to the cabin where, after the hot springs, I fell right to sleep.

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