Volcan Arenal

So on Saturday I caught a bus to La Fortuna, a town about an hour away from San Carlos. The town is best known for it's glorious Volcan Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world! I got there early in the morning, and first went to see the Catarata Fortuna. This consisted of a long downward hike through a forest... Although my legs were burning, from a very active previous week, I knew I would just have to suck it up! And once I finally got there, it was definitely worth it! The colors were vivid! A white waterfall, sparkling blue water, the greenest of green trees, and black & gray rocks... it was an incredible sight... I got my feet wet for a while, yet didn't completely jump in... The water was very very cold, just like in San Vicente!

After I hiked back up the forest, I caught a taxi back to the city center. I asked the taxi driver if there were any restaurants she recommended and she told me about a house, where a lady cooks good food for a very cheap price. So she dropped me off at Dona Isabelle's house, where I sat in her kitchen and talked while she cooked some good pork, rice, beans, repollo, picadillo, and an amazing fried platano! We talked for some time, and she told me her story, of her 10 children, and how she lived in the states for 9 years, working as a cook... it was all very interesting!

After lunch I met up with my Volcano tour guide, which Miguel had arranged. Since Miguel works in tourism, he was able to help me get a discount. We were joined by a Swedish couple... The woman was massive and reminded me of a giant Valkyrie or something! So the four of us hiked through a forest that was very close to the volcano... The entire sight reminded me of Jurassic Park...we saw all sorts of tropical birds, monkeys, insects, and plants... the hike lasted a good 4 hours or so, and our guide was very good! afterwards I returned to La Fortuna...

That night things got a little random... I got a little confused about the bus schedule, and missed my 7pm bus back to San Carlos... Yet before I had any time to panic, I met some Ticos who quickly came to my rescue... They offered me a hotel room for 6 bucks for one night... so i said why not! The hotel was a part of someone's house, which is normal around here... So my new plan was to stay the night in La Fortuna, get some dinner, maybe a drink or two, and leave early the next morning... yet before I had time to settle in, one of the Ticos named Elias began offering me a deal to re-visit the Volcano in the morning... At the time I wasn't interested in re-visiting it, much less early in the morning, much less paying $5o to see it... Yet he told me they would be much closer to the volcano, close enough to see lava! So that caught my interest, and we began bartering for quite some time... Finally we agreed on $15 and a cheeseburger from BK... no joke! After BK I met some American girls from Colorado at the hotel, and I drank some cheap "Apache" Costa Rican Vodka with them...

Before I knew it I was getting awoken in my hotel room at 3:30am, to go journey up the volcano... Elias had not even been to sleep yet! We were joined by an American couple from Seattle and a couple from Portugal. I was dead tired, and my head was spinning from the vodka. We began hiking through a pitch dark forest with our flashlights, up a very steep trail, at an incredibly fast pace... the American couple was unable to make the hike, and had to take the detour... It was a pretty intense hike to say the least! And go figure, once we got to the viewpoint, the peak of the volcano was STILL covered by clouds... we were never able to see lava or the peak!! this was my biggest dissapointment of the weekend... Yet I still don't regret the 2nd hike... We saw the volcano much closer, along with many more monkeys, birds, and a closer look at the Lake...

We got back to La Fortuna at around 8am, I took a quick power nap, went to church, and then caught the 11:30 bus back to San Carlos... I was dead tired when I walked into Dona Hilda's house, yet sure enough there was no rest to be had! I was being waited on by the entire family to eat lunch... and later after that, I being the nice person that I am, offered to help Dona Hilda make empanadas for Tati and her entire brigade of Christian advocates... I went straight to bed once dinner was cooked and served...