Although our voyage was beset with long layovers, since the border officials lunch coincides with the scheduled boat arrival, we made it that night to La Fortuna (as shown on the map for a couple days). We got to do a few fun things in Fortuna, the best of which was the Baldi hot spring, at the base of the Arenal Volcano (didn´t climb it). About 15 pools of water at different temps, a waterslide, and topped off with a buffet dinner, it felt more like Vegas than Central America(thank goodness). After 2 nights we made our way to Santa Elena/Monteverde by shortcutting across a lake, it cut the 7 hour trip to about 3 hours. At this tourist trap, we did it all! We were lucky enough to arrive on the 15th, the night of the full moon, and we took a nighttime horseback ride. It was mostly cloudy, but there was a good half hour of spectacular views. We also went to a House of Snakes, Butterfly Garden, and a Frog pond, which all had some very interesting, if gross, exhibits. To top it off we went on an evening hike in the Children´s Eternal Rainforest Preserve, where we saw all of two spiders and a sleeping bird (the guide was kind enough to point out that t is the MOST common bird in Costa Rica). At least we made a donation for the kids.
We decided to have one more day of murderous long-distance travel, and went across the country to the carribean town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, just north of Panama. Here we plan to chill for a couple days, maybe do some snorkeling or some river rafting, and next head to Tortuguero and check out some nesting Turtles before heading to San Jose to catch our flight home.
More pics coming soon...
James and Kimberly
