And so the adventure begins.... birds, bugs and beauty!

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Welcome to Costa Rica

Late at night, upon arrival at San Jose airport I had my first taste of Español (Spanish) at the immigration counter as the officer wished me a lovely trip! I figured I was off to a good start as I understood her at least. My UK travel buddy Fiona had waited for me at the airport and we traveled to the hotel together, where another UK travel buddy was waiting! Over-excited by the holiday ahead of us and the availability of a hot tub we jumped right in and proceeded to catch up on life in the jacuzzi for an hour! Much needed sleep then followed!

Sunday 9th May

Costa Rican adventures officially began on Sunday morning with a traditional breakfast of ‘pico de gallo’ (literally "rooster's beak"…thankfully only in the literal sense) - it's a refried rice/beans/egg combination, with accompanying coffee of course. They say coffee tastes better closer to the source, so I was all for testing out that theory.



We walked through some interesting parts of San Jose to the bus station. I say interesting because some of it was pretty and the architecture was nice, whereas other parts did look a bit dodgy and not anywhere you would want to spend a long time. We made our way to the bus terminal and managed to arrive twenty minutes after the bus to La Fortuna had departed. We had our doubts when “Bonny” told us we had missed the bus and conveniently offered us a lift to La Fortuna, but after investigating further we realized he wasn’t scamming us at all and was entirely right. Rather than wait three and a half hours for another bus, we put our trust in Bonny to drive us to La Fortuna in his car/taxi – we weren’t quite sure! Anyway, we got to La Fortuna pretty quickly and throughout the drive, Bonny played some classic 80s tunes with videos on a mini screen which was thoroughly entertaining!



Once we arrived at Hotel Casa Luna we had some lunch and then went in search of La Catarata de Rio Fortuna (waterfall). It was about a 40 min walk to the national park from our hotel and after paying the entrance fee, we went down some steps to the incredibly powerful waterfall, about 80 meters in height. We swam in the bottom but the current was so strong! It was impossible to get near the waterfall itself. The water was very cold but invigorating! Fiona nearly got swept away around a small rock, but there was a lifeguard on duty and he was very relaxed about it because she basically went round the rock and then could walk out without problems. It’s worth being careful if you’re not a strong swimmer though. Nature is a powerful thing.



Later that night we ate dinner at the hotel after a lengthy hot tub session... I sense a hot tub theme coming on!

Monday 10^th May:

Being without a car, we decided to hire a driver for the day and his name was Alberto. He drove us to the hanging bridges in La Fortuna which were excellent. We had a brief view of the Volcano although not all of it because around this time of year it is mostly cloud covered. Once inside the hanging bridges reserve we found ourselves walking through jungle and across high wobbly suspended bridges with fantastic vistas! Slightly nerve wracking but fun, I couldn’t quite decide! There were plenty of birds, a poisonous snake and some other bugs around. It was a lovely verdant place, and being La Fortuna it rained on us a little bit.



Next stop was the Volcano national park where we did a volcanic flow walk near the base of the volcano. Volcanic flow in the sense that it had once flowed there and not anymore! The hike took about two hours - climbing up over the lava rock for views across the green land. Monkeys were playing in the trees, lizards, butterflies and birds were all around. At the highest part of the hike we sat for a moments rest and of course at that moment, the heavens opened! Literally drenched us within about ten minutes – we were so wet it was funny! We squelched our way to the bottom and dampened Alberto’s taxi as he drove us to a local soda (café) for a “casada de bistec” (beef mixed plate) and “agua dulce” (hot sugar cane juice).



We were happy to head back to the hotel for cocktails in the hot tub with a visit from a humming bird, and then fresh fish for dinner! We liked the dinner menu description of “Tuna with a Costa Rican elaboration” which essentially meant Tuna with sea food on top, but elaboration sounded so much better!



That was our brief trip to La Fortuna, before heading to the Pacific Coast…



JHG



Casa Luna Hotel: https://www.casalunahotel.com/

Hanging Bridges Park: http://www.misticopark.com/

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Photos

Catarata - Waterfall
Long exposure photo

Typical breakfast
Pico de gallo, huevos, plataños y claro, cafe!