Blogs from La Fortuna, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 6

Sunday morning (November 27th) we left Santa Elena via JEEP-BOAT-JEEP transportation to La Fortuna (the town near Arenal Volcano). The roads between Santa Elena and La Fortuna are so bad that a bus trip alone takes almost an entire day, so given that we were pressed for time we opted to take a "jeep" (actually a microbus) to Lake Arenal, then a boat across the lake, and then another "jeep" into La Fortuna. This trip was slightly more expensive but only 3 hours long. It also gave us the opportunity to experience some more rough roads, narrow bridges, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery (as well as some interesting horse transportation - see pic!). Due to a mix-up in booking, Leanne ended up with a different JBJ company, so we said goodbye at the hostel and hoped to ... read more

Today was a reasonably short day. After waking up, we started to work on a plan for the rest of the trip. After doing some research, we decided that we'd jeep bus jeep to Monteverde, then take the bus from Monteverde to Quepos (which is close to Manuel Antonio), then, the morning of our outbound flight, hop a Sansa regional jet to San Jose. After we worked out all of our plans, Shavonn started feeling a little rough, so we relaxed in the room until it passed. We think it was just from the heat. With Shavonn feeling better, we took off for the mountains. First of all, given that the previous day we were swimming and didn't want to get the camera wet, we drove by Tabacon and took some photos. Then, we headed up ... read more

It was a very good thing that I didn't have to drive far to get to La Fortuna because there began a scavenger hunt for a place to stay. The first place had camping but only in their tents and that was expensive for tents that were lame. The next three places that were supposed to have camping did not and a fourth was unacceptable because the manager was not present to explain where I could pitch my tent. This sounds like a really big hassle (and it was) but I deserved as much for relying on Loony Planet. The good news is that I lucked into finding a good camping spot with secure parking and close to the center of town. I had fantastic view of Volcan Arenal and Sissi's laundry drying on the clothesline ... read more

Let me write a little more about where I am. The village, San Franciso, is 13km from the tourist hotspot La Fortuna, where the main attraction is the impressively large Volcan Arenal, which often erupts though it is almost always hidden in cloud. My host family's house is round the corner from the school. The house is largely wood and corrugated iron but they have a dvd player and smartphones. The three daughters are aged 19, 18 and 10. Here's one way to be introduced to a new class (6th grade so definitely slavering horde rather than docile herd). Friday morning I helped to move the school´s two cows between two sites on leashes. Things were going smoothly, so my cow decided to make a break for it. The class looked through their open door to ... read more

hi! I know i have left you in suspense but here is why... This week i learned kind of how I need to handle mysef when my internet stops working, which is one of my computers favorite passtimes. I don't know why i feel so helpless without it but then after two days of it not working, it magically comes back on, I thank God, and my mood skyrockets. More of those to come, I'm sure. School this week was a lot more of the same, I have a project due in a couple of weeks! The group, which for now is settling in to be eight of us from ISEP, traveled to La Fortuna this weekend which is a little, but not surprisingly touristy town that sits as close as it dares to the active ... read more