Day 49: La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Only appropriate in the rainiest region in Costa Rica, today was rainy most of the day. We started with a hearty breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs back at the Soda Viquez. Under the impression that we must be on a tour to visit the volcano, waterfalls, and bascially everything else to do in this town, we set out to find a cheap operator. No success. After a pick-me-up of some delicious coffee and Wifi in a great little coffee shop (if you´re facing the church, it`s to the right side. Doors are always open and it`s next to a massage sign/place) to figure out our POA. We chatted with the guy running the place who told us of a great (free!) waterfall that the locals like to go to and told us we could just go to the Arenal Volcano National Park ourselves (for more info on Arenal Click the Wiki Link here)

Excited to get outside and do something, we ran to the supermarket for snacks and water before heading out to Volcan Arenal via taxi. There`s a taxi waiting area on the opposite end of the square from the church (so, just across the sqaure from the church) and they are all metered so no bargaining here). Believing it would only cost $3 for admission, we were really surprised to be charged $10/person for park entrance. Ouch! We hiked along the trail with our eyes peeled for a sloth or any other neat animals. The crazy guy at Cabinas Jerry said that if we took his tour, we were “guaranteed´´ to see at least one sloth. But he´s also the same guy that came to our door 3 times at all hours of the day and night (no joke, it was really really annoying) asking us if we were going to sign up for his tour.

Photo Courtesy of WikiTravel (see above link)

We went off the trail a few times (do this at your own risk, it`s not recommended and we don`t want to be responsible if you get eaten alive by some very large unnamed animal) to try and get some better views and quiter places for animal spotting.

Jungle at Arenal Park (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/24910400@N07)

Mostly we just saw tons and tons of lizards of all different colors, leaf cutter ants, some toucans and tons of other birds. We did see this big turkey/vulture/peacock black and white spotted bird walking across the path once we got past the volcano and hiked deeper into the jungle. It was pretty cool! And another was a dark bodied bird with a bright yellow tail that makes crazy noises, kinda of like a high pitched crackling sound and water. Hard to describe but probably the weirdest sound ever. Besides that, we just got tons of insect bites and Lin got some tiny pricks from some unnoticed pointy plant that drew blood and left really itchy big bumps. But no sloth today…bummer. Fun day hiking anyway. The volcno was nice to see but it wasn`t very active tonight and it`s not the most exciting thing to look at in the day time either. Lake Arenal was really beautiful though, with the sun causing a glittery effect on the calm water. It`s visible from the same high rocky area that you can view the volcano.

View of Lake Arenal from Volcano (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/26021073@N03)

After nightfall, seeing that we wouldn`t get to see any lava, we left the lookout area (mirador) into total blackness back toward the park entrance. We didn´t hear or see a single other voice or flashlight the whole 15-20 minute walk and it was almost as black as that night on the motorcycle in Nicaragua! Our tiny keychain LED was burning bright but still didn`t offer much comfort as we walked between the 7-8 foot tall flora flanking both sides of the road.

Our plan was to try and catch a ride back to town with someone who had driven to the park since we were not on a tour and there aren`t any taxis there for stragglers (since, again, most people take the tour which provides transport and the rest rent cars while they`re in Costa Rica). There wasn`t a soul in that parking lot and it was as dark as the path we had just come from. Uh-oh…Well, no choice but to walk and try to hitchhike if anyone passes by that isn`t a fully loaded massive tour bus or shuttle. But after 10-15 of those passed us by, a shuttle stopped with only 2 passengers and asked us if we wanted a lift back to town. We had only walked 10 minutes or so but it was about a 15 minute drive back to town and we certainly didn`t want to walk it if we didn`t have to! The driver hadn`t expected any money for picking us up but we gave him roughly $2/person which he hesitantly, then happily accepted. Today hadn`t turned out at all like we were expecting but it was still a fantastic day. Glad to be outside hiking around and out of the city for once!