Hi there,
From Tortuguero we went to La Fortuna. This was the longest and most traumatic displacement of the entire trip. We had to take a boat to La Pavona, then a taxi to Cariari and 4 more buses to La Fortuna. Imagine the physical and mental state in which we arrived at the hotel.
La Fortuna is a small town in Costa Rica located northwest of the capital that serves as the entrance to the Arenal Volcano National Park. It is highly exploited for tourism and almost all the restaurants are fast food and North American franchises.
The Arenal volcano is active and still contains lava flows. At its feet there is a green lagoon and one kilometer from the entrance of the park, there are the thermal waters of the Tabacón River. On the other hand, the Chato volcano is inactive and has a lake in its crater.
The first day we went to the bus station to see how to get to the Arenal Volcano National Park. A taxi driver told us that he charged us a thousand colones each. We decided to go with this man since the price he gave us was even cheaper than the bus.
Carlos made us enter a small reserve that was very close to our hotel, where we saw frogs of different colors. Then along the road we could see sloths in the treetops.
The bad thing about Carlos is that he was very annoying, and he wanted to sell you all the tours, at a supposedly reduced price.
At the park entrance we paid $15 per person. Carlos walked us to a small lake and showed us the green frogs with red eyes. The bad thing is that he grabbed them and wanted us to touch them. It’s something I hate. I don’t like to disturb wild animals.
Another thing that caught my attention is that he spoke badly about the Nicaraguans since, according to him, they were endangering the species of the area because they ate everything, including the monkeys and the sloths.
We did the longest trail until we reached a part full of volcanic rocks from where the volcano could be seen. That day there was fog, and we couldn’t see it. We finished walking the paths that were in the park and we went to the lagoon. There is only a very small part where you can go down and a rope to launch yourself. We stayed there for a while.
We left the park and walked a kilometer to the Chollín River, also called the Tabacón of the poor. It is a river of hot springs with free admission that fills up with locals on weekends.
We entered through a very ugly part that seemed to be the Guaire River (a polluted river in Caracas). We were there for a few hours and then we called Carlos to come get us since we had missed the bus. To go to the National Park, there is only one bus going at 8am and one returning at 14h.
Carlos wanted to take us to a zipline and hot springs site for $40 per person to spend the rest of the afternoon. We discarded it since we had planned to go to Salto River that the locals had recommended. So, he left us at the hotel and from there we walked 40 minutes to the river. There were many Germans jumping with the rope, which is the most typical thing to do there.
As everything I saw on the internet were very expensive tours, I asked the local who had previously made recommendations if we could do something that was not very touristy and that we could go without guides or tours; He told me to go to Chato Hill.
We walked an hour and a half to another hotel that charges $10 to let you on the property. Supposedly there is no other way to get there. The hotel receptionist told us that the rangers had prohibited access due to the danger and made us sign a document in which we declared that we accessed the mountain at our own risk.
It started to rain, and we continued because we had already paid. After an hour of walking, the path up the mountain began. We met a couple who were going back, and they told us that the road was very difficult.
The entire climb is along a path that has been made from rainwater, so it is totally virgin. You must go almost on all fours, climbing roots and dodging fallen trees.
We reached the top exhausted and we couldn’t see the lake because of the mist. We tried to go down to the lake, but the road was even worse. Thinking that we had already spent 4 hours, that we had 4 more hours to get to the hotel and that we were going to go down to see nothing, I decided not to continue. So, we started our way back.
We arrived at the hotel exhausted but happy because it was the best hike we had done so far. It was the perfect formula for a horror movie: forbidden mountain, virgin trail, rain, fog, and loneliness.
That afternoon we rested since the next day we left for Playas del Coco.
La Fortuna is a worthwhile destination if you manage to escape the tourist traps. It was a good change of scenery after touring the beaches and although nobody will tell you because they want to take your money, there are fabulous options to do independently. Food prices are like in San José and La Hormiga Soda is the best we found for its price/quality ratio.
Bellow you can find the link to my YouTube channel: