We traveled with our friends Lynsey and Nick down to San Jose, and although we caught a different bus we met up at the same hotel near the city center in the evening. It was strange leaving Nicaragua and entering the somewhat more developed Costa Rica. We have planned to do quite a lot in Costa Rica, including white water rafting and horse trekking around the Fortuna area so we only stayed one night in San Jose before catching the bus up to Fortuna - now we find ourselves in the shadow of the Arenal Volcano and tonight we are heading up to the viewing area to see if we can spot some lava during sunset.
Sara with two British doctors - Lynsey & Nick
VOLCANO ARENAL
On our first evening in Fortuna we decided to take a tour to the nearby Arenal volcano, which is supposed to be the most active volcano in Central America. Unfortunately the mountain was surrounded by cloud but we were able to hear a couple of loud eruptions and for a few brief seconds we could clearly see a lava flow down one of the flanks. Afterwards we visited one of the nearby hot springs under the shadow of the volcano – about six or seven pools all at different temperatures and a wet bar where we had some of the local Imperial beer.
Kinda near Arenal
WHITE WATER
The following day we decided to treat ourselves to white water rafting. We drove about 60km from Fortuna through coffee, banana, coconut, papaya and yuka plantations to a river whose name escapes me right now. After a quick safety briefing and a review of some of the calls – forward, back paddle, lean in, fall out etc – we started on our two and a half hour journey down river. After about 17 seconds a woman from Virginia fell in when we hit the very first area of turbulence. About 12 seconds after that, with everyone just watching the woman float away through the rapids, we hit a rock side on and the boat flipped over tossing us all in the river. It was not the ideal start to the show but we quickly regrouped back in the boat and carried on with our various cuts and bruises. Sara seemed to have caught the brunt of the damage from a French guy next to her who seemed to think that Sara was some sort of flotation device that he should grab hold of in the water. We did, however, complete the rest of the course without incident, spotting some of the local wildlife along the way – monkeys, egrets, herons, cormorants, kingfishers and even a cow.
Sara & I after our white water rafting trip
AUSSIE BLOKE
On the bus from San Jose to Fortuna we met a young Australian surfer, Mark, from Cocos Island, off the west coast of Australia just south of Indonesia who joined us for a few days, including the horse trek to Monteverde. But that bit deserves its own paragraph.
Sara with our Australian pal Mark
HORSE TREK
It was advertised as a nice easy trek from Fortuna to Monteverde – three hours, nice views, big lunch, piece of cake. We took a boat across the glass like Arenal lake next to the volcano to begin the trek. The first half hour was great, through rolling countryside, rain forest, and three river crossings (the first one a little too deep for our liking). After the last crossing the trail veered sharply up hill. For the next three hours we trudged through knee deep mud the consistency of smooth peanut butter, all the time climbing. About two thirds of the way up the mountain Sara’s horse lost its footing and quickly fell to the left, throwing Sara off. Thankfully the mud was so deep that the horse was a foot or so closer to the ground, the landing was as soft as a terra landing could have been and the horse regained its balance quickly enough to stop itself from falling on her. Nonetheless it was a scary experience but to her credit Sara, after briefly brushing herself down, got straight back on the horse. I think there is a saying about that. We completed the remainder of the trek without too many scares but when we dismounted our steeds it felt as if someone had spanked us for past three hours with a table tennis bat. We never did get that big lunch either.
Driving the speedboat across Lake Arenal
Sara crossing one of the many rivers during our horse trek to Monteverde
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