La Fortuna...

We picked up an 8:40 a.m. bus from San Jose and sat in the bus for four hours as it took us to the north and through the mountainous mid-lands of the country - La Fortuna. Small town best known for its proximity to Volcan Arenal - a very active and live volcano.

Volcan Arenal

To get to the volcano, we had to go through the jungle - the first of many different types of jungle hikes that we took. This required driving for about 45 minutes into the jungle and fording a creek that becomes a river after it rains. Our hike started in mid afternoon, which turned into a spectacular evening hike.

This is what the jungle of Costa Rica looks like. I was expecting tall, Washington State-like forests. However, they weren't as tall but definitely thicker. And so many more different noises. As we walked along, we kept hearing this rumbling, almost belching like noise. No, it wasn't me, but the volcano that was just to the right of the trail. Our guide stopped us often along the way to show us unique plants and animals that lived in Costa Rica. We saw leaves that would curl up if you merely brushed them. We rubbed lemon eucalyptus leaves on our hands, which helps keep the mosquitoes away. We saw Howler Monkeys, of which our guide pitched a perfectly good "howl" to get their attention.

My favorite two monkeys, Beth and Rebekah. However, I know Reba would prefer to be a Lemur.

Spiders rock. Just don't touch them. HUGE, they were.

One of the many interesting and colorful plants we saw. Couldn't tell you what it was but it was definitely that vibrant in color.

At last we emerged from the jungle and climbed over lava rocks to this view of Lake Arenal.

Then we turned to our left and there she was..... Volcan Arenal and she exploded a few times for us too. Twice in fact, which our guide said was a rarity.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can climb that volcano.

The girls and, yes, our totally cute guide.

The top of the volcano was often covered in clouds and smoke so it was a treat when it cleared up for us.

Ah yes, this is what our hike back to the tour van looked like. At this point we were on the other side of the base of the volcano and we were walking on sand, which was lava rock some 30 years ago. Afterwards, we went to an open air restaurant and ate the best fried plantain cakes, guacamole and cerviche I'd ever had.

The Town of La Fortuna

Our hotel San Bosco- we stayed in La Fortuna two nights - this place, $15 a night, each our own bed and a pool and Jacuzzi and hot showers. We could see the volcano from our pool. The manager, Greg, was awesome in telling us where to go and the best deals. Turns out, he grew up in Washington State but married a Costa Rican woman and now lives there. 

Dinner - Beer - Good. A lot of the restaurants were open air but the temperatures were so perfect, it didn't matter.

The Church was basically the main focal point of town. We walked inside and saw a poster for a Bingo game the next morning at the community hall. So we got up, went to the pool, ate breakfast and searched for the hall in which, sure enough, there was a bingo session starting. We paid 1,000 colones each (a little more than $2 - we think it was a fund-raiser for the church) and got a card. We sat down with a grandmother and her grandson, who helped us when we looked at each other quizzically because we didn't understand the number called. We played five games, didn't win a thing, which was fine because the prizes were stereos and irons and tvs, and gave our cards to the lady and her grandson.

   La Fortuna... very.... village like. We walked around the entire main part of town within about an hour or so.

No clue what this means, but it was part of a souvenir shop. We think.

Um, Happy Day Mama?

Two days later we left the quaint town of La Fortuana....

There was a bit of a problem getting from La Fortuna to Monteverde - a really big mountain range was in the way. However, our excellent hotel host Greg told us of a bus-ferry-bus route that, for $18, would get us to our destination. Here's us on the bus ...

Next up.... St. Elena/Monteverde