After three nights in San Jose we struck out for La Fortuna, determined to avoid paying $110 for a shuttle by taking the public bus for $16. We’d taken public buses during most of our trip around South America and, 20 years ago all of my Costa Rica travel had been conducted by public bus. Things have changed a little however, more people own cars and public buses are now regarded as being a little more difficult in Costa Rica than neighbouring countries. Whilst in San Jose we’d walked to up the small bus terminal where our bus would depart, and found the right queue and a vague reassurance that the one direct bus left at 08:40 every day.
On our day of departure we grabbed breakfast in the hostel followed by a short taxi to the terminal where we joined the correct queue. We were worried by the length of the queue, but a few minutes later we’d paid the driver and were on the correct bus. The windows were already open which meant no aircon, but other than that it was pretty comfortable. The journey itself was uneventful, although Alex felt quite sick when we started ascending and then descending through tight switchbacks over a mountain.
We arrived in La Fortuna, grabbed our bags and walked to our hostel. La Choza Inn was to be our most luxurious hostel of our trip so far, at just over $50 a night it featured a private bathroom and air conditioning, something we haven’t had since Panama city. In reality for once it actually exceeded our expectations. The room was clean, the beds were good, we had a fridge and TV (which I can only presume worked). We were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was cleaned every day, and the included breakfast had table service with jam, hot sauce, and water on the table.
With the afternoon free we decided to go to the free hot springs. Our stay included a free trip in the hostel’s shuttle to a free public hot springs, in reality this was a nice part of the river with several slightly managed pools of warm water. It was a pleasant afternoon and we soon got talking to a young British vet who until very recently had lived 20 minutes away from our home in Nailsworth. On the shuttle to the hot spring we also got talking to Colette, an Irish lady who lives in London and was on a few weeks holiday in Costa Rica, on the way back she suggested we go out to dinner. Colette quite fancied trying a local meal out, whereas we were a bit tired of rice and beans and really fancied pizza. We did try to go to a local place recommended to us, but it was closed that evening and we ended up ducking into the nearest pizza place right on the main tourist street. We were also joined by Mora, a young Canadian who seemed far more mature than her 23 years. The food was nothing special and came with some high tourist prices, but the company made up for it.
The next day it was an early start as we had booked a tour encompassing the main attractions of La Fortuna; a visit to the waterfall followed by a hike to a scenic volcano viewpoint and finally a visit to a hot springs. In La Fortuna the tours seemed to offer best value for us, as we didn’t have our own transport and the various activity entrance prices were very high, so combining them in organised day trips worked out best. Each trip came with it’s own wrist band which made us stand out even more as tourists!
The bus arrived to collect us 10 minutes early, definitely a first for this trip, and after we boarded it wound its way around town picking up other tourists before heading to the waterfall where we swam, followed by the hike where we walked over the lava flows from the 1968 Arenal eruption, spotting wildlife on the way. We were taken on quite a staged tour of a reconstructed indigenous village, the highlight of which were the bright balsa-wood carvings. We finished at the hot springs, which featured nine pools of varying temperatures and came with a free mixer of local spirit with a local fizzy drink. After an hour or so at the hot springs the bus took us back to our hostel.
During the day we’d been talking to Mark, a TV producer from London who has produced a few shows that we’ve seen, and we invited him to join us for dinner at a Mexican place called El Mariachi on the edge of town that was well reviewed and looked to be far enough away from the centre not to be able to survive on a steady influx of tourists alone. When we arrived, Mark was already there with Derek, a Children’s author from Seattle, who was travelling to escape the current Trump regime at home. The restaurant turned out to be a great find, with the best margarita’s I’ve had this trip, and our company turned to be a fascinating group. Derek and Mark had plenty of stories to tell and our shared interest of travel meant that we were asked to talk about our time in South America, especially our trip to Antarctica. We sat around chatting long after finishing our food, it was a great evening.
The next day we’d booked a horseriding tour and once again our pickup arrived early. We were ready this time though, so leapt into the bus where we picked up others on the way: Christina from Austria and an American family. The horse riding was a pleasant two hours, although our group of 13 with only one guide felt too large, especially when we broke into a canter. Those of us who had ridden before were fine, although a few who hadn’t looked decidedly worried.
The tour finished once again with some hot springs at the same site which were quiet, and the nicest we’d been to, so we spent a few hours enjoying the pools and chatting with Christina. Quite early on we spotted a snake in one of the pools which I think was probably dead, although we decided not to get close enough to find out as it’s bright orange and black stripes felt like a warning. Christina and I tried out a water slide that Alex didn’t fancy, preferring to stay relaxing at a splash-free distance.
Christina had been recommended Green Spoon, a restaurant with an extensive vegan menu, so we went there with her for dinner and enjoyed good and reasonably priced food.
We enjoyed La Fortuna, the hostel was comfortable, the hot springs relaxing, and the volcano very impressive. Although we had a lot of organised fun and big tour groups both days, we did really enjoy the activities and we met some great people to hang out with.