Apr 22, 2010 - La Fortuna - Pics Need Captions

Our Thinking the Day Before: Depends upon our sense of which is better...getting to Cahuita the same day (must go via San Jose) or spend an extra day in Costa Rica and go by the back way, and new territory via La Fortuna...gravel roads and slow travel, plus a 5 am colectivo the next day to Cahuita. 4/22 The bus trip from Santa Elena to La Fortuna was fantastic...see pics. Actually two buses, 7:15 lv to Tilaran...here we spend 3 hours waiting in Me Choza (My Hut) Restaurant. Very nice folks, the daughter spoke great English which she learned...

Feb 15, 2010 - Hanging bridges, Ecocentro Danaus Butterfly Farm, and the ultimate... Volcan Arenal!

Another misty morning as we headed off for the Arenal Hanging Bridges. We travelled to the north of the volcano along Laguna Arenal and above the plains below. As our bus climbed to higher elevations, the road side was coloured with a blanket of impatience, a local weed I am told. Walking through the rain forest from ground level to the canopy along a pathway and over 14 suspension bridges offered vistas of green upon green densely tangled vines, palms, and trees. Orchids and other flora dotted amongst the verdant foliage, misty clouds...

Feb 14, 2010 - A day around La Fortuna

This morning was very misty, as though we were wrapped in a cloud. There was no sight of Costa Rican’s famous active and perfectly conical volcano. So, there was no reason not to go zip-lining or shopping. I chose the latter and enjoyed the wide variety of shops, an artists’ emporium, the town square, and a tasty lunch in La Fortuna. It was also interesting to see the many American name-brands in shop windows: Puma, Nike, Sears, etc. For dinner, a small group went to the Vagabond Pizzeria just metres from our hotel. My tomato basil and...

Feb 13, 2010 - From Pineapple Plantation to La Fortuna at the base of Volcan Arenal

Westward on to Volcan Arenal, we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. This Texas- based producer specializes in organic pineapple cultivation, but ironically, has to sell the harvested pineapple without the organic label as there is not a market for the organic product. Whole Foods and President’s Choice are the primary distributors of Costa Rica’s golden pineapple in America. Here I learned how to buy a pineapple. Because pineapples are only harvested when they are ripe; and, the greener the pineapple on the market shelf, the better...

Feb 8, 2010 - Extreme hike in La Fortuna

We signed up for an "extreme hike" to Cerro Chato, a crater lake in the mountains, and then on to see the La Fortuna waterfall. We thought they were kidding when they said extreme, but it was super hard. It had rained all night the night before and was misty,foggy, and hot on the hike. The "trail" was barely that at all, but rather the trail where the water had eroded down the side of the mountain in the jungle. Our guide wore rubber rain boots and barely broke a sweat. We climbed up for 1.5 hours to see the crater lake, but it was too...

Feb 7, 2010 - San Jose to La Fortuna

After breakfast at the hotel we boarded a private van for our drive to La Fortuna. It took about 3.5 hours to get there with a few photo and snack stops.
In La Fortuna we had some time to kill before our first excursion that evening so we walked to the local swimming hole for a swim.
That night we went to see the Arenal Volcano and as our guide was explaining it, it exploded.
We then went for a walk through the jungle and then were told we'd be taken to the hot springs for pizza and beer. Instead, for some reason, we...

Nov 20, 2009 - Vulkan??? Ich hab noch keinen gesehen!!!

Fuer den 20.11. stand ein Ausflug zum Vulkan Arenal an, einem der aktivsten Vulkane der Welt, der wohl staendig Lava spucken soll. Los gings um 8.30, also nicht zu schlimm. Nach etwa 4 Stunden Fahrt gings erstmal zum Mittagessen zu Fuessen des Vulkans. Danach stand ein Besuch der heissen Quellen gleich um die Ecken an. Mit vielen Pools mit Temperaturen zwischen 39 und 67 Grad konnte man auch bei leichtem Regen darin echt entspannen, dazu gabs Bars, an die man direkt ranschwimmen konnte und dabei noch Fussball schauen. Also alles in allem...

Jun 25, 2009 - La Fortuna

25th June two people carrier buses drove us all along the winding roads to the pleasant town of La Fortuna. Here we would be staying for two nights. Several of us opted to go to the "local pool". Which actually turned out to be a river with a series of water falls going into a large deep pool. A rope swing had been put up for the more adventurous swimmers and indeed proved to be a good adrenaline producer. Swimming behind the waterfall and diving out was also a must do. Later that evening we went on to a viewing area to see if we could see...

Jun 19, 2009 - La Fortuna

Hola Hola! Last night we went to a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Lava Lounge with our whole group. It was great food. Then we went to a local kareoke and disco bar. We sang "Margaritaville". It was kind of sad because nobody knew the song, even our Canadian, German and British friends! But we still sounded great...ha! This morning we went back to the same place we went yesterday for breakfast, because it was so delicious. Then we were picked up at 10 to go on a canyoneering tour at a place called "Los Perdidos" or the Lost Canyon....

May 20, 2009 - Costa Rica: La Fortuna

The star attraction in La Fortuna is Volcano Arenal which looms over the town and is Costa Rica’s only active volcano, spouting hot rocks constantly although you can only see them at night. So we booked ourselves into a volcano tour through one of the many tour operators in this tiny town. Incidentally, there was no tourism in the town 20 years ago, until the volcano (which they thought was a mountain at the time) blew and killed 68 people. Three days after this a further explosion killed a small plane full of people as it flew overhead....

May 20, 2009 - Costa Rica: La Fortuna

We headed back to La Fortuna to return our hire car and do a canopy tour we had seen. The canopy tour consisted of 10 zip lines with the longest being almost 1km in length. Canopy tours are really popular in Costa Rica and a few areas have them. After being given the safety spiel we jumped into our harnesses and started on the zip lines which were fast and great fun. Each one went through a different area of the rainforest, all very high up, passing over valleys and nearby waterfalls. To end the tour we were treated to a horse ride on sad...

Mar 30, 2009 - Back to Costa Rica- Arenal and the Cherro Chato

After the heat and dust of Nicaragua, exacerbated by the lack of electricity for three days (not even a FAN to help cool off!), I was ready for some greenery and fresh air. I was driven into San Juan del Sur by Greg, the owner of Mango Rosa, which gave me another chance to chat with him. He was in his mid-40’s, a surfer and all around waterman from Florida who had worked in Big Pharma as a sales rep for years. He got sick of that, came to San Juan del Sur on a surf trip, decided he would come down for a year to see how he liked it. He spent...