Where the trip began itself was; the place that Lindsay currently calls home.
After a detour through San José, Zucero and Cuidad Quesada we landed in La Fortuna. This town was located right outside of a constantly sweet and erupting Volcán Arenal. We hiked there, of course.
View from or emergence from the jungle onto the lava boulders.
View from the lava boulders, over the jungle, to Lago Arenal.
Other nice (translation: slow) tourists swapped picture taking with me (Mel and Lindsay had already climbed up the hill). We met some sweet people from the U.S. and Spain. Later in the day we went to some hot springs and bathed in naturally heated springs.
The next day, in our moldy and sulfur-smelling bathing suits, we hiked down to the Catarata de La Fortuna, a tall and skinny waterfall. Mel was the only one brave enough to go swimming. She said the water was just like Adirondack water--crisp. After the previous night's hot pools, I volunteered to watch our belongings.
Drinking juice and eating fruit--I'm pretty crafty with an 1.5 inch blade!
On our last day in La Fortuna, and after several days of waiting, we finally saw the top of the Volcán Arenal. It showed itself at just the right time, as we came around the base and were headed for our Jeep-Boat-Jeep transportation to Monteverde.Jeep-Boat-Jeep was a $19 adventure in a 4x4 vanagon, a boat, and another 4x4 vanagon. It saved us about 5 hours in a bus, on equally bumpy and narrow dirt roads. It's not a great time, really. I spent the second jeep ride sitting with Lindsay and Melanie in the pseudo fold-down seats in the absolute back of the vanagon, where the luggage should have been. They also told a few of us that the bathroom was very close and we would stop at it. After and hour plus of being close, we arrived in good spirits to use the bathroom (our bladders amply shaken by all of those bumps).
In the Monteverde Reserve. Here we saw a rare bird, the Quetzal. There were monkeys, lizards, a wild boar, and a ton of birds we could not identify. One big was fat, hibiscus-pink legged and iridescent navy blue. I really wanted to touch it.
The clouds rolled in at the end of our hike. It was eerie and beautiful.After Monteverde, we hired another 4x4 vanagon to drive us to Manuel Antonio. We hired the transport because of the Semana Santa (Holy Week); no buses were running. Our driver, a lovely chap named Mauricio, was happy that I spoke Spanish. It took us a long time to arrive to Manuel Antonio, and I was the only Spanish speaker in the vehicle. We learned about each other, joked and then suffered through not being able to find the hostel. It took us hours to find the hotel because traffic was not moving, and everyone in the town told us the wrong directions, including the hostel's manager. Eventually I lucked out and found answers when I got out of the van to find a Tico who knew something. For the record, I found our way and Mauricio was lucky I was there to save his butt!
Las chicas super lindas, Melanie and Lindsay, in Manuel Antonio.
Following our hiking we were feeling a bit like our sloth friend. We hit a great beach-side (translation: street-food) restaurant. I think it was the best food we ate. The waiter, Enrique, placed a sweaty kiss on my cheek, Melanie's cheek, and then swabbed himself dry for Lindsay.
Back at Lindsay's house, where the trip ended, I suffered through one last day of poolside bliss. Here I am taking a break from the midday sun. Costa Rica is close to the equator, you know.
