Costa Rica - La Fortuna

Costa Rica was never on my 'next country to visit' list.  However, a seat sale sold me on visiting, and I'm very glad that I did.

Seeing that I didn't know anything about the country, I spent many hours online hashing out an itinerary, even asking the online community for advice.  I knew I wanted a mixture of seeing things and beachtime.  I finally settled on La Fortuna, Tortuguero, and Cahuita.

The Arenal volcano - the main draw to La Fortuna

La Fortuna was supposed to be a 'BIG TOURIST TOWN' according to what I read.  However, when we arrived, I was surprised to see just how small it was.  Maybe it was being in the off season.  

We took the bus from SJO airport to San Jose, then another bus from San Jose to La Fortuna.  The bus into San Jose cost 535 colones (or $1.30CAD), compared to quotes of $30USD for a taxi.  Long distance bus cost 2380 colones (or ~$6CAD); much cheaper than the $50USD quoted for a shared shuttle.  If you visit Costa Rica, you can save HUGE amounts of money by taking public buses to get around.  I thought they were safe and reliable.  We only travelled with 1 carry on bag each, so didn't have to worry about putting our bags in the luggage compartments.  I highly recommend travelling with a carryon sized backpack.  It is SO much easier to maneuver around!!!  You can even use the toilet without worrying about someone watching your luggage!

In La Fortuna, we went river tubing.  It's been a goal of mine to float down a river in an innertube, so I finally did it!  While it was fun and all, it was definitely our most expensive excursion at $50USD.  I'd describe it as white-water river tubing.  It's something that I'd never attempt without a guide, so I guess it was worth it!

Cerro Chato is the one on the right

The other activity we did was hiking up Cerro Chato.  Cerro Chato is the extinct volcano located next to the active Arenal volcano.  You aren't allowed to hike up Arenal due to poisonous gases that apparently killed too many people.  The trail up Cerro Chato was steep and deeply rutted.  We were lucky enough to hike on a sunny day.  I can definitely see how it can turn into a muddy slip n slide in the rain.  I stupidly forgot my runners in the hotel, so hiked in crocs, which I don't recommend.  Crocs have zero traction and I did fall twice and have multiple near misses.

The green waters of the Cerro Chato crater.  I prefer turquoise glacial lakes ;)

I wasn't huge fan of the green water; it kinda grossed me out a bit.  Nevertheless, I still swam.  Now I can say I've swam in 2 volcano craters!!! (Crater Lake, Oregon and Cerro Chato!)  The major screw up we did was not bring enough water.  It was hot and humid and we only had 1L water each.  By the time we were making our way down the mountain, K was very dehydrated and dizzy.  It really slowed down our pace and we weren't able to visit the waterfall nearby due to time constraints.  

Steep and deeply rutted trail through the jungle

To get to Cerro Chato, we rented a car.  This is one of the MANY instances where knowing how to drive stick is helpful.  Renting a manual transmission car was much cheaper and cost about $70CAD for the day.  K was the driver, but I think I could've even handled driving, even with my nervous driver tendencies.

We stayed at a place called Allamanda Rooms.  It's family run and felt like we were at an air bnb.  They were super nice to us and offered to spin-dry our laundry, lent us kitchenstuffs, and let us into their kitchen whenever so we could get water.  The little granddaughter tried to converse with us, except our Spanish sucks, and her English was non-existent.