Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna, and Monteverde Cloud Forest

This past weekend was our first excursion in Costa Rica. We travelled to two new places, La Fortuna and Monteverde. Both locations are popular tourist spots for people who are looking to emerse themselves in the natural wonders of this country. On Friday we departed from San Jose towards the small city of La Fortuna. This town sits right at the foothils of the Arenal Volcano. Arenal is the stereotypical volcano that comes to mind when one thinks of an active volcano. Originally it was thought to be just a mountain until it erupted again in the 1960´s, and now it is in the top 10 most active in the world. Arenal looks like it is out of a movie like Land Before Time, with its perfect cone shape and constant lava flow. After arriving at the hotel we promptly went to the Baldi Hot Springs, which was just like an adult water park. It uses the warmth from the earth and the volcano to heat the water of over 15 pools. The springs varied in temperature, getting hotter as you walked up the mountain, and reached up to 152 degrees F. The facility also had swim-up bars and three water slides which would most likely not be legal in the United States. After a few hours of swimming and relaxing in the water we all ate a much needed buffet dinner at the springs. Saturday was a busy day as well. We woke up early and toured a local hydro electric power plant. After about 3 painful hours there we returned and started towards La Fortuna waterfall. We were given the choice to either go there by bus or by horse, I chose the horse option. My horse was named Talía and we all rode for about 40 minutes through mostly fields and roads to the entrance of the park. To get to the waterfall we had to make a pretty intense hike, but when we got there it was definately worth it. We swam in the falls and in the river for about an hour and a half before riding our horses back to the stables. The plan after that was originally to go to Arenal National Park, but we decided not to go due to the rainy weather. Instead most of us took a drive to a local serpentarium, which contained a bunch of animals including butterflies, spiders, and lots of snakes, including one 14 ft. 300 lb boa constricter which many of us held. Though it was quite cruel, the most entertaining part was watching the zoo keeper feed the snakes live mice and chickens. During our two nights next to the Volcano, we unfortunatly were not able to see the lava flows at night because of cloud cover. I didn´t really mind, seeing it at day time was cool enough. The following morning we departed to Monteverde Cloud Forest. This is one of the most dense and ecologically diverse rainforests in Costa Rica. To get there we took a relay of Jeep-Boat-Jeep, which was supposed to be more scenic. Instead it was just an uncomfortable ride in hot, congested jeeps, instead of a cool, roomy charter bus. On sunday we took two nature hikes through the forest, one during the day and one at night. The day time tour was fun as we walked in the rainforest on suspended bridges, through hollow trees and swung on a rope swing. After this I ate probobly the best meal I have had so far at an upscale pizzaria, a nice break from rice, beans and chicken. Afterwards we embarked on the night tour which was very informational but I didn´t enjoy being eaten by bugs for two hours (I forgot to bring long pants). Both hikes yielded very little as far as animal life which led me to believe that absolutely no animals live in the rainforest other than lots of bugs. Fortunately, the following morning we took another hike where we saw lots of wildlife including beautiful birds and monkeys. It was great to finally see and learn about the rainforest that all of us have been waiting for. On Monday night, we returned to San Jose. I will update my pictures later, Pura Vida!