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Published: November 22nd 2015
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Saturday
Lots of rain last night. The room was quiet, the highest room, far away from the street. The only commotion was a couple of pesky roosters that woke up at 6am! The mountains were all clouded in at that hour, but we hope to get some good photos later. Had breakfast on the balcony, fruit and coffee. We sat and watched the birds. Saw a hummingbird in a close flowering tree, but he was too quick for a photo.
We walked to the central park area. It was about 9am, and starting to get very humid. The flowers were gorgeous, and the smell so sweet. Many yellow butterflies were fluttering around. We chased a few more hummingbirds, but they were too fast for us! The best view of the volcano, Volcan Aranel, is from the pavillion in the center of the park. Still a little clouded over, but tried some photos anyway.
As we walked through town, we noticed that gas was $4 a gallon. Passed a couple of shops selling baby chicks and rabbits, and walked by a group of school boys playing soccer. Almost every TV in the cafes
is turned to soccer. Costa Rica is soccer obsessed! Crossed a river; the river was fenced in along all sides, so the only good views were from the bridge. This is definitely a city of tours. Tour booths and activities information centers on every corner. Everything is available--volcano tours, rapelling, boat rides, tubing, safari tours, rafting.
We decided to check out the waterfalls a little later. We asked for a taxi price, decided no, and walked on. The driver ran after us, lowered the price, and off we went. (Bob, the negotiator!) Part of the road was a very bumpy stone path. We went by a woodworking shop and a hammock shop. A few shacks along the way as we drove through beautiful forests. We entered the waterfalls area ($10 per person). Several overlooks on the way down, with a total of 500 steps to the bottom. The first part of the trail was edged by a unique wooden railing, and a stone wall on the other side. Further down, men were working on the railings. We saw that it was all made of cement, then covered with a material to make it look like wood and
stone. The garbage cans at the top were made of the same material.
Falls were beautiful, so much water falling down. They do get a lot of rain here. Very misty and humid at the bottom. There were two swimming areas underneath the falls, rocky edges, and very blue water. Several people were swimming. Heard a little English going down the path, but most with a very British accent. Also heard some German. A local pointed to my Twins hat and said "Minnesota". A couple of guys from the Netherlands took our photo in front of the falls.
After our visit to the bottom, we had to get back up! Then we took a taxi back to La Fortuna. As we passed the hammock shop, the driver (a nice young man named Diego) said that this was the best place to buy a hammock. They sell them to the venders in town to resell. Too bad they are so heavy, Bob could have gotten his own hammock!
Later in the afternoon we walked the north area of La Fortuna. There are some very nice residential homes back there, well kept up,
lots of flowers. The style was stucco with lots of wrought iron railings and trim. We got a little better view of the volcano back here, but still clouded over.
We stopped for an early dinner at Soda Viquez. Excellent food (hamburger/fries, beefsteak and onions, mango batidos (milk shakes)), and very reasonable. It was drizzling a little bit when we left the room, but we figured we wouldn't get too wet. About half-way through dinner the rains let loose big time. We waited a while after dinner to let the rains subside, but finally decided to go back. We ran from canopy to canopy, made it back from our adventure just a little wet.
A fun day! Still raining!
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Gail and Richard
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"Touring in the Rain"
Looks like the rains are not stopping you having a good time!