A new day and off we went on the bus towards La Fortuna. The
route was only about 50km to travel, but apparently it takes over 3 hours
because the road is so steep and windy in places. As per usual we arrived at the
changeover town of Tilaran high in the mountains at what we considered a fairly
reasonable time (1pm) expecting to get an onward bus, only to discover they had
already stopped for the day.
So we stopped for the night
in Tilaran. It’s a pretty quiet place
and there’s not much to say about it. To
pass the time I decided I would have a shave for the first time on the trip,
and try out different comedy beard styles on route.
The next day we got up early
and continued on to La Fortuna. The
three hour bus ride was actually more enjoyable than you might imagine, winding
from one mountain to the next and got some spectacular views across Lake Arenal,
and spotted a barrel of monkeys eating fruit by the side of the road – and yes
barrel is the correct collective noun for monkeys.
Now I’m sure La Fortuna and
Costa Rica in general are amazing places but we encountered two fairly
significant problems:
1.) A
typical day tour in Costa Rica seems to cost around $100 per person. Now this
probably isn’t a big amount in the grand scheme of things, but coming from
Nicaragua where the equivalent tours cost only $10, it kind of felt like we
were being asked to give up a kidney in exchange for a go on a quad bike.
2.) It
rained continuously the entire time. Maybe this shouldn’t have been so
surprising to us, after all there must been some logic behind calling them
‘rainforests’, but our bodies had clearly adapted to the 30 degree all day
sunshine of the pacific coast. Also almost all of the attractions in the area
involve long walks in the outdoors, which are at best slightly less enjoyable
when you’re soaking wet and can’t see any of the scenery, and at worst, as in
the case of the ‘Celestial River’ downright pointless. This had previous caught
our attention as according to the guidebook, after a three hour hike through
the jungle you arrive at a confluence of two rivers, where due to the unique
volcanic chemistry they combine to glow an iridescent blue, except however…
when it’s raining when the river is instead a muddy brown.
One afternoon the clouds did
briefly part so we made a dash for the nearby La Fortuna waterfall. The 3 mile
walk was slightly more challenging than originally anticipated as it was almost
entirely up a 45 degree slope. A friendly guy heading the same way in his car
did stop and give us a lift, but only for the final 200 meters.
On entering the Catarata Rio
Fortuna Park, and getting our first spectacular
views down onto the waterfall, the walk was immediately completely worthwhile. We
descended down steps cut into the side of the volcano to the base of the
waterfall, and no sooner had we reached the bottom before Becki was bravely
leading the way getting in for a swim.
Falling down from 75 meters
above us the water was icy cold and incredibly powerful. The spray and waves nearly knocking us off
our feet again and again. One woman did wander in too close, and got swept off
screaming towards the rocks downstream.
Fortunately two of her friends and a local who was carefully overseeing
the pool pulled her out before she got there, and aside from being a bit shaken
up she was fine.
After an afternoon of
playing around in the plunge pool and the river further
downstream, we made our way back up and had some lunch at the lookout point
restaurant – definitely the best food of the trip so far. While we were waiting
for our food to arrive, a monkey came to join us, coming out from the trees,
right to the furthest branch overhanging the lookout point walkway. He didn’t
seem bothered at us getting up close and even put on a bit of a show, hanging
from his tail and pulling different poses.
The next day the weather
returned to its state of continuous rain, so by the evening we were desperate
to get out and do something, even if that something was only run to the bar
down the road for some drinks. Becki set a new personal best in getting ready
for a night out, from ready for bed to ready to go all in under 10 minutes.
Once at the bar we got
chatting to this local guy, and what started out as an opportunity for us to
practice our Spanish and him his English ended up with him taking us under his
wing for the night and showing us the bars where the locals go, and finishing
up at a late night café.
The next day with hangovers
kicking in and yet more rain forecast for the whole of the rest of the week, we
decided we would move on and keep heading south in the hope of finding some sun
again.
Final Thought: You might
think that La Fortuna’s claim to fame would be it’s views of the perfectly conical
Arenal Volano or the dramatic 75 meter waterfall nearby, but apparently it is
also home to Costa Rica’s International Mini-Golf
No comments:
Post a Comment