Our journey from Monteverde to La Fortuna is a delight. We’ve treated ourselves to a shuttle transfer involving a comfortable, air-conditioned minivan which takes us to Lago Arenal. Here we board a boat that takes us on a 40 minute cruise across the water, the towering Arenal volcano looms in the distance. A short minivan ride on the other side and we’re in La Fortuna before lunch. Ideal.
With a bit of time to kill until our room is ready, we explore the town and hunt for some supplies. We’re particularly happy to find a big trail mix bag of nuts and chocolate M&M’s for a very reasonable price.
The town is very much geared towards tourism with many supermarkets, restaurants, souvenir shops and countless tour operators trying to lure us into booking a trip to the hotsprings or a rafting tour with them. Luckily, our man Wilson at the hostel, has already debriefed us and suggested the best deals in town are booked through the hostel. A quick comparison of the prices and he is indeed telling the truth. We pop back to the hostel and check into our room. It’s pretty basic but at least it has a fan, a shower to cool us off, and a large bunk bed so we can spread out in the roasting heat. The room has a funny smell which, at first we think is what they’ve used to clean the room, later we realise it is actually the smell of sulphur coming from the volcanic gas! Also, there is a slightly bizarre picture on the wall of a sloth giving birth…
For our afternoon activity we head to the rope swing at the El Salto waterfall around 25 minutes walk from our hostel. Compared to the last waterfall we walked to, this one is a breeze to reach, which does of course mean it’s busy, packed with gringos queueing up to use the rope swing. We sit on the rock and watch the acrobatics as confident tourists and some locals twist, spin and somersault off the rope into the water below. I tell Alex to lower her expectations as I join the queue. I don’t have anywhere near the same fear as my last jump and enjoy swinging like Tarzan into the arena where thirty or so expectant faces watch me plunge into the river.
I try to coax Alex into at least jumping off the small ledge a couple of meters above the pool but she’s understandably nervous, especially with an audience around. Instead we climb in to the river further down for a cool off and it even starts to rain a little.
The Land of Lava
Our first full day in La Fortuna and we decide to spend it by visiting the biggest natural attraction in the area, the volcano. We decide to save some money by skipping by hostel arranged tour, and take an Uber from town and arrive at the Mirador El Silencio, recommended by our hostel, and confirmed by Google to be the best of the three park options around the Volcán. There are numerous paths through the jungle, all leading up to a lava trail, which is as close as you can safely get to the still active volcano.
We make our way through the foliage, spotting a howler monkey, a sloth and a handful of birds, still no sign of a damn toucan though.
Reaching a tour group as we climb up the 1968 lava trail, the guide advises we won’t see any toucans up here, but might do back where we started, doh. Here we get to walk on a section of lava from the last eruption, all black sand and rocks with vibrant green plants pushing their way through.
At the Mirador, with a fantastic view of the volcano, I ask a German lad to take a picture of Alex and I in our usual pose, looking out into the distance with our backs to the camera. “Beautiful” he says as he hands back my phone, intentionally or not he only seems to have captured around 10% of the volcano in the shot… I figure I’ll wait until he’s gone and ask someone else.
In the meantime, another tourist explains the black contours you can see are formed by the lava flows of the 2010 eruption in the vista infront of us. It seems clear now why this Mirador is as close as you can get while still being safe from a potential eruption. The group clears off and eventually a family climb up to where we are. They take a better photo, but the clouds have rolled in a bit more now. Luckily it won’t be the last volcano we see on this trip so we’ll try again elsewhere!
We head a different route back down to the car park where we entered. Alex stops at a bend in the road, overlooking a large green pond full of algae. Something has caught her eye or ear as she stops and watches patiently. “Toucans!” She cries as she beckons me over. I run to her. Two have just flown across the water to the jungle on the other side but she’s certain there are more. We make our way closer for a better look. A couple of moments later one of the elusive creatures spreads its wings and glides above the pond to follow its mates. It’s not up close but we’ve both finally seen the species we’ve been desperate to spot!
We hike back down to the entrance. It seems to take a lot longer going down on this winding route but it is certainly scenic.
We consider thumbing a lift down to the hot springs but there isn’t really anyone around so we do our usual thing and walk 20 minutes along a busy bendy road with no pavement.
Eventually we cross a bridge spanning over a river and realise we need to be in the water below us. We find a trail by the roadside and reach the water. When I first put my foot in I’m disgusted to find the water is as warm as a bath and I’m worried it’s sewage water. I soon realize this is of course the river from the hotsprings, naturally heated by an innocent volcano, nothing nasty. We walk under the road where water strongly rushes past our feet, an oasis of natural hot springs lies just ahead. We relax and play around in the warm pools, the pool edges made by tourists using volcanic rocks.
We relocate to part of the river higher up where the water is even warmer. As we bathe here a toucan arrives on a branch a few meters away. We stare watching ‘Toucan TV’ for a long time as it uses it’s scythe-like beak to chomp down leaves and bugs for lunch and enjoys a post meal snooze in the tree. They are beautiful but bizarre creatures, their giant colourful beak makes up over 30% of their size yet only accounts for around 3% of their mass.
Find it in the center of the image:
Getting home is a bit of a faff as we don’t have any signal to request an Uber. Our hostel group tour which we rejected, just so happens to be leaving as we do, but they have no more room in their car and the only bus for another 3 hours drives past us as we consider our options. We decide we’ll try to hitch-hike it back to town, a couple of girls in our hostel told us it was easy around here…
We wait by a hotel entrance where the parking attendant finds it very amusing that we’re trying to hitch-hike. I take the first shift, holding my thumb out for a good ten minutes whilst most cars don’t even give us a second look. Rightly or wrongly, I figure women have a better chance of someone pulling over, so I tell Alex it’s her turn. More smirks from the parking attendant. A few minutes later and I’m ready to give up and wander around until we can claw enough signal to order an Uber. As I do this, the parking attendant asks one of the hotel guests getting into his car if he’s going to La Fortuna. “Yeah…why?” The bewildered looking driver asks, “can you take these guys?” the attendant pleas while Alex and I put on our friendliest smiles. “Err… I guess, find yourselves some room in the back” he resigns. Our chauffer is an American guy called Ryan on his first holiday outside of the States, he doesn’t seem thrilled to be strong armed into giving us a lift, but we make conversation. In typical fashion of the Americans we’ve met so far, it’s a pretty one way conversation of him explaining how the world works through his view and not really engaging much in our responses. Feeling a bit awkward about the whole ordeal, as soon as we hit the edge of town I say “this will do, we’ll get out here”. Not realizing it’s still a twenty minute walk to the hostel, but at least it’s now in company I enjoy.
In the evening we find one of the local soda eateries, two minutes walk from our hostel. I have Jugo de Maracuyá (passionfruit juice) while Alex slurps down a cold Tamarind juice. We order the local traditional dish (casado) of rice and beans, plantain, salad, veg and a choice of meat, I have carne en salsa (beef in sauce) while Alex has pescado (fish). It arrives quickly and we enjoy it, except for when Alex tries a bit of my beef that I’ve covered in a particularly hot spicy sauce, that’ll teach her. As we’re tucking into our meals, an American lady on the table behind us complains that her steak is not cooked properly. The owner offers to cook it more or she can have another dish. She refuses and is quite blunt and rude to him which is a real shame in this family restaurant that clearly takes pride in it’s work. The owner seems visibly upset (not angry) and offers the rude lady a refund. Later, we reassure him our meal was really tasty and perfect as he clears our plates. “I feel better now” he says to his colleague behind the counter. It seems odd to go to a soda, order a steak then be surprised when it’s not exactly how you want it. Her children explain, showing a picture on their phones, “in our country it’s cooked like this”, another trait we’ve been noticing of certain tourists forgetting they’re not in their country. I suppose this is why we’d give the place five stars (which we did on Google) and others would give it one.
Tears for Fears
Yesterday we spoke to Wilson at our hostel about booking the rafting tour. I was in two minds about which option to take, the level 3&4 on the beginner river, or level 3&4 on the advanced river. Both had excellent reviews so it was a case of how far did I want to push Alex’s limit as she was nervous about it. Long story short he talked us into doing the level 3&4 on the advanced Rio Sarapiqui, which was labelled as “Extreme!” and “for adventure junkies” on their website. I tell Alex this is likely just for marketing purposes. As I try to get to sleep the night before, I remember the tears, the shaking and the look of fear on her face after tricking her onto the waterslide at Center Parcs. I wonder if I’ve made a huge mistake and feel slightly concerned about the challenge myself!
In the morning we’re picked up by a bus with two large yellow rafts loaded on top of it, full of excited faces. Alex is slightly relieved to see there is a young lad on the tour (if he can do it, so can I) and the majority of the group are men (they can do all of the work while I hide at the back). We zoom along towards the river and our nerves are fairly calm.
That is until the safety briefing starts. There are five directional moves to remember and on top of that, four safety moves. One of these involves “jumping like Superman to the other side”. Hmm. “Remember guys this is a category four, it is serious… This is what you do when your raft flips over and you’re stuck underneath it… This is how you float in the rapids… You will look like a raccoon if you don’t do this… [10 minutes later]… Got that?” Bare in mind Alex had to hear all of this in English AND Spanish! The heart rate increases dramatically.
We disembark the minibus and put on our life-jackets (bizarrely they’re called Personal Floatation Devices out here), our helmets (Personal Brain Protectors?) and grab a paddle. We make our way down to the fast flowing river and form a queue. Alex is the epitome of fear, rigid and terror in her eyes. I feel terrible! I try to reassure her they have to make the safety brief sound scary so people will listen. I’m not sure if it helps.
Because the river is shallow at this time of year, there will only be three of us plus our guide in the raft. We climb aboard and meet our instructor, the legendary Roberto, nicknamed “Chizo”. He’s been rafting and kayaking for 20+ years and gives the sense that he could do this with his eyes closed. “All of that stuff they told you in the bus, forget it. You only need forward, backward and get down. Easy.” We feel slightly relieved. The guides are playful and in good spirits. “Don’t go with him, he lost someone yesterday”, “he’s never been in a raft before”, “he can’t swim, so look after him”. We nervously laugh as we set off down the river.
We immediately realise we are in safe hands and Chizo calmly instructs us a few “forwards”, “backwards”, “get down”. Practising these simple moves on the go and we’re well on our way. A few minutes later and we pull to the side and wait for the other rafts to catch up. “Get your breath, the next rapids are CRAZY, I’m scared” Chizo teases with a hint of seriousness. He’s not wrong, they are crazy, probably the most technical, fast-flowing descent on the whole 2.5h journey just 5 minutes in. Still we make it down unscathed. Sensing our nerves have settled, Chizo instructs us to paddle back towards the rapids in an attempt to ‘surf’ them. We get soaked in a cool blast of water and come out with huge smiles on all of our faces!
As we make our way down, we chat with Chizo. He’s a professional kayaker and has competed in international competitions in both rafting and kayaking. It seems he spends more time on water than land and still loves his job twenty years in. Fantastic. Alex thinks he was an otter in his past life.
Around the halfway point we stop for an opportunity to do a roughly 4m (12ft) cliff jump into the river. It’s a run and jump off the grassy bank. A small queue forms. Alex shows interest. Without even checking what’s involved she signs up and asks if we can jump in together. We line up and hold hands ready for a romantic moment plunging into the cold river together for Alex’s first cliff jump.
Except I chivalrously let go of her hand as we run towards the edge and I know she’s past the point of no return, clearing the edge. The noise of the river covers up any profanity and I follow her in. It’s a surprisingly high drop with a couple of seconds of air time. Your partner can always surprise you, twice in one day today!
We jump back in the raft and enjoy battling rapids for another hour or so before our floating adventure sadly comes to an end. We all want more, more, more. Alex beams with delight and I’m glad we both enjoyed it so much. We consider where we might be able to go rafting again. Mission successful.
We’re rewarded with fresh towels, bottles of water and a buffet of fresh fruit served on the underside of a raft.
All of our group heads back to La Fortuna and devours lunch while looking at some pictures taken during our adventure. It’s brilliant to see our nervous faces transition to big smiles after just a few shots.
In the evening we sort out some life admin and treat ourselves to a take-away from a local pollo frito (fried chicken) joint. Glugging down a couple of huge bottles of beer to celebrate surviving this exciting day.
Pit Stop in Liberia
On our way up to the border with Nicaragua, we’ve found a town called Liberia that we can stay in for a couple of extra nights before we depart Costa Rica. Our journey there is smooth sailing thanks to Alex working out the route and the three buses we need to take arriving and departing perfectly one after one another (with a little help from the locals pointing us in the right direction).
We arrive before midday and check into our fifth and final hostel in Costa Rica. We tuck into wraps, which we’re now sick of having eaten as lunch for the last few days. Without much to do around town today we relax in the nice garden (not our photo) and do some planning.
In the evening we go to the cheap supermarket and somehow spend well over an hour in there just buying a handful of items. We’re in the queue that long it almost deserves it’s own blog post.
Returning to the hostel I cook a spag bol while Alex chats to some other backpackers. Later on, in our 6 bed mixed dorm, just as we’re about to turn out the lights, an elderly lady arrives and looks a bit shell-shocked. Having just arrived from Canada where it’s currently minus twenty degrees to a windowless sweaty dorm must have been a shock to the system. Alex offers her bottom bunk but the lady kindly declines and says she fine in the top bunk (much braver than I am with my fear of falling out).
Poza Los Coyotes
For our final full day in the country I’ve picked out a local attraction that only opened in late 2020 and is most popular with locals. Wanting to beat said locals to it, we arrive at 9.30 with just a handful of cars in the car park. We pay our entrance fee and hire rubber rings to pootle down the nearby river between the rocky canyon. The water is a beautiful turquoise blue thanks to an abundance of minerals in the water. We walk 100 meters upstream and ‘elegantly’ hop into the rings and float away. Almost immediately we notice the disturbingly large arachnids clinging to the sides of the canyon ensuring we’ll stay well away from the edges.
We paddle against the current and work our way further upstream, trying and failing to push all the way up to a nearby rushing waterfall as the current is too strong. Later we explore the cueva los coyotes (cave) where we can again explore on our inflated vessels, it makes navigating on the water much easier as it goes from ankle deep to neck deep within a single step. A handful of tourists are around, some in rings like ours, some have paddle boards and some simply swim and splash around in the blue pools. There is the occasional rope swing and cliff jump but having seen the varying depth levels and lack of safety signage we decide against taking the risk.
We find a lovely spot in the shade beside some rapids. I play around in the waterfall using it as a natural jacuzzi while Alex floats up and down, cooling off with a splash of water when needed. We have some snacks and notice how busy it has become. Locals have turned up with BBQs, speakers, picnics and all sorts of water paraphernalia. It’s nice to see a spot that locals and tourists can enjoy without it feeling overpriced or unsafe.
After lunch we head back to where we started, determined to reach the waterfall this time. On a large rock in the water, a group of large local men slurp beer, burp and cuss. Slightly tainting the picturesque surroundings, we nickname them the walruses and move well away. With Alex in the ring and me swimming, we easily reach the powerful waterfall and float on home one final time.
Back at the hostel, we treat ourselves to a takeaway dinner, I go for pizza while Alex has taquitos (Little tacos) and a couple of beers. The lady from our room joins us and we enjoy chatting with her and our German roommate Celine for a couple of hours. The lady is called Enis and is 83 years young. She has traveled a lot in her life and still loves travelling and meeting people along the way. Preferring to stay in hostels and socialise with fellow travelers than feel lonely in a hotel room. She is also travelling without a phone(!) just a tablet that she uses to keep in touch with her loved ones back home. She ensures us we have plenty of time to see the rest of the world we won’t get to see on this trip.
We play a few games of Pictionary and Tiles and chat away into the night. Alex and I both think it’s fantastic and an inspiration seeing someone like that still travelling and living life to the full. It puts some of our travel troubles in perspective and we both hope we’re still able to travel at that age, though it probably won’t be in hostel dorms!
***********
Adventure – 2.5h of white water rafting, love it. Admiring the gigantic volcano. Relaxing in natur hot-springs watching Toucan TV. Frying plantain, pretty tasty with a pinch of salt. Calmly drifting around in the Coyotes pools.
Excitement – Finally meeting some Mancunians, shame they were total lunatics (James). Gaining full confidence in Roberto and being able to enjoy the rafting, and having the confidence to jump into the river (Alex).
Trauma – Sweaty rooms with next to no air flow. Queuing for over thirty minutes in a supermarket. Almost losing my sandal in the hot spring, turns out it floats! (Alex) The pre-raft panic. (Alex)
1 Comment
Favourite post so far! Toucan TV, tubing, adrenaline, weird landscapes & Enis. It’s so cold here I’m wearing my ski jacket at my desk fairly regularly!