This obviously changed our schedule and availability for the next few days. After spending Sunday afternoon exploring the well developed, charming (in an urban, grungy but packed with smiling locals in central park sorta way) city, we realized we could see all we wanted to see in two days. While eating a typical cafeteria style dinner on the busy walking street, we agreed that our second night lodging decision would be made after we experienced the buffet breakfast the following morning.
Monday morning we feasted on omelettes made to order, adorable dishes filled with fruit and creams, and pastries that can only be described as desserts. We paid for another night at Hotel Aranjuez and set out for a day full of museums, churches and markets. Despite the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo website stating Monday there is free entry, the security guards told us they were closed and Tuesday was the free entrance day. We continued to walk towards the blocks of walking streets to find the Mercado Central, only to walk quickly through with a few glances at t-shirts and hammocks ironically made in Nicaragua. We made our way back to the Artisan market where we had made a successful purchase the evening before. A few more souvenirs were purchased to continue the tradition of only buying mementos towards the end of our backpacking trips to challenge our packs capacity. That evening, we enjoyed one of the few cheap traditional plate meals (casados) we've been able to find in Costa Rica.
We set our alarms a tad earlier on Tuesday morning to have more breakfast gorging time. See pictures below.
With very stuffed bags, we thanked Hotel Aranjuez (with two bananas smuggled for the road) and walked into the Contemporary Museum from the previous day. Our bags were stashed behind the counter, we were provided with free entrance, and what we allotted over an hour for took simply 15 minutes. As we continued our walk to the bus terminal, we agreed we were thankful that we attempted the museum thing in this capital city but were more thankful it was free. Between this museum and the disappointing contemporary museum in Panama City, we realize we are not huge fans of contemporary art.
The terminal for buses to La Fortuna had moved since our guide book was published, so we walked a few extra blocks before entering a three story modern mall. Our tickets were purchased on the third floor and we viewed the city while waiting an hour for our bus. We chatted with an Australian traveler for the 4 hour ride northwest into the highlands and walked together while looking at accommodation options. He settled for a $12 dorm, we continued our search and stumbled upon Hostal Posada Del Arenal. A sketchy looking sign next to a laundromat looked promising on price but less than promising on quality. We were led through a gate where a hidden building stood that contained four spacious rooms with private bathroom and a detached kitchen with a table or hammock for sitting. Surprisingly, the man running the place lowered the price from $30/night to $20 when we inquired what the price for four nights would be. This almost made up for the prior two nights steep accommodations and for the bag of coffee that we purchased in the market and later found in the grocery store for 1/3 the price.
La Fortuna is one of the largest tourist destinations in Costa Rica for its close proximity to Volcán Arenal, the most active volcano in CR. In 1968 she shocked the villages surrounding by erupting violently and burying homes and unfortunately, 80+ people. She continued with her natural firework and lava show until five years ago when all activity suddenly ceased. Our plans for the next three days in the gateway town of La Fortuna included exploring Arenal's waterfalls, trails and hot springs.
Wednesday, our day was spent exploring the town. After grabbing dinner out the previous night, we had picked up pancake mix to make a meal that would help us use the oil we were packing around since Cahuita (Micah enjoys carrying leftover ingredients in his backpack). Our typical pancake and banana breakfast was enjoyed and afterwards we walked the streets. Groceries were purchased for more meals and we tested our creative cooking abilities with minimal ingredients and equipment, making garlic-butter gnocchi and green beans for dinner. Micah also mixed tuna for sandwiches and marinated chicken, both in preparation for Thursday's meals.
Communal kitchen
Our alarm was set for 6:40am on Thursday, allowing us time to make breakfast and catch the 8am bus to Arenal. As we hit the snooze and then turned the alarm off, there was little regret. Unfortunately, 8am is the only bus heading towards the volcano and 2pm is the only return. Ideally we hoped to explore the trails and views around the volcano before heading back a few miles towards town to soak in the hot springs; with the bus schedule, this was not possible unless we chose to walk to the hot springs and catch the 2pm from there. We decided on Thursday that the following day we would rent bikes and pedal a few hills to reach the national park, giving us the freedom to come and go as we please. Micah's marinated chicken was made into a scrumptious stir fry dinner and we fell asleep early.
Friday the alarm woke us at 8am. French toast for breakfast, tuna and bread packed for lunch, and swimsuits with towels were stuffed into our day pack. We had inquired at a few shops about bike rentals on Thursday and so at 9:30am on Friday, we were at the cheapest shop's front door. Yesterday the man at the front desk pointed to a rack full of bikes and happily told us $10 per bike for the day. Today, he pointed at two sad looking bikes and told us we should test ride them first and make sure to check the gears, these two don't run well and soon they're not even going to rent them. Hesitantly, I test rode one and was pleased that all but 1/3 of the gears worked. Micah agreed after his test run and we were excited that we'd obviously get the runner up versions for cheaper. Surprisingly, the man wouldn't budge on his price so we decided to walk, assuming he'd break or we'd return. A few blocks further, a friendly Costa Rican told us that he'd give us their $20 bikes for $10 each. Eyeing two large scooters to the left of the shop, I inquired and he said the lowest he could go was $30 for the day. As we hummed and hawed, we shared our plans for the day with him and he immediately told us we shouldn't ride bikes along the narrow, busy and curvy road. He bluntly told us people die every year and that he shouldn't tell us this so we rent bikes and he makes money, but he had to be honest. We believed him and now had two options: rent the scooter and go on our own ($50 total, $30 for the scooter and $10 entrance fee/pp) or go on the tour he mentioned for $60, which included transportation, entrance fees, hiking, museum, waterfall, hot springs and two cocktails. After ignoring our alarm on Thursday and then signing our souls away on a guided tour, we realize that our backpacker strength and determination has began to soften as we near the end of our trip.
We returned to the shop at 2pm as instructed and, as is typical for Tico time, our mini bus rolled up at 2:20. Crammed with a dozen other tourists of similar age, we boarded and made our way towards the volcano on what can only be deemed as a road that is definitely not bike appropriate. We stopped at the hot springs for photo opportunities since it would be dark when we returned. This is where our loathing of the selfie stick began on this guided tour. There were two couples in particular (neither American and neither teenager girls, surprisingly) that held up the entire group numerous times throughout the afternoon to take selfies or pose awkwardly on rocks in front of other rocks. Despite this, we enjoyed ourselves and the tour was probably worth the money. Instead of the national park, admission was to a private reserve ($8/pp) with a viewing dock of Volcán Arenal and the man made lake where most of the damage was done during the eruption.
The group took shelter for some time during a downpour and then braved the walk towards the waterfall. More pictures were taken before over half the group shed clothes down to bathing suits and got wet. The waterfall was extremely strong and the swimming hole probably considered dangerous by most, and I'd like to say it was refreshing because it was scorching hot out but that's not true. It was pretty frigid and those that stayed dry may have made the wiser choice.
Our walk continued through thick rainforest with multiple stops for the guide to tell us to avoid extremely dangerous snakes, or to smell citron leaves, or to chat with other walkers while we all stood in the pouring rain. It got dark and difficult to see and I believe one or two from or group turned around. We eventually made it to a small museum before climbing back into the van for our next destination.
Typically on the drive towards the hot springs, the tour stops and everyone exits the bus to search for the red eyed tree frog. Today, because of the rain, we were told they would instead bring the frog to us by capturing one and bringing it on the bus. These pictures should help describe the strange scenario that followed:
Our last stop was returning to the previously photographed hot springs, which were really the run-off of the hot springs from the resort that costs $31 just to enter and sit in the hot water. The water flows through a tunnel and then cascades 3 ft over a cement wall into a pool where attendees sit on rocks. The surrounding scenery is unique, with the cement pillars forming the bridge-like tunnel, decorated with graffiti and candles (placed by the guides) dispersed amongst the rocks. However, when Micah whispered "this kind of reminds me of a sewer", the perception of said scenery changed and it was all I could think of. Two rum and Fresca drinks were poured out of a Fresca bottle, there were mud facials, and then we called it a night.
This morning, Saturday, we left La Fortuna on a 7:15 bus heading towards Cuidad Quesada. We exchanged for a bus now heading to Los Chiles where we planned on crossing the Nicaraguan border and landing in San Carlos by boat. Micah had done diligent research and knew that there was a boat from Los Chiles to San Carlos at 12:30pm and it often filled quickly, so we hoped to be at the border by 11:30am. We disembarked the bus in Los Chiles around 11:20 and were told the border was another 6km away and we could catch a bus on the road. After much confusion and nearly 30 minutes, we learned that the bridge construction to San Carlos was completed and boats were no longer an option for transportation into Nicaragua. This put us on less of a time crunch and our understanding was the next bus to the border would be at 12:30, caught on the side of the road. We returned to the terminal to pay the $7 Costa Rican exit tax, after being told it had to be paid before you reached the border (FYI backpackers: there is an ATM at the border that allows you to pay the tax). The man in the market charged $2 commission, the pharmacy charged $1, so we paid the pharmacy $8 each for our $7 exit tax. Caught the bus, got an exit stamp, walked to Nicaragua, paid $24 total for both of us, got a stamp and cheered as we completed our last land border crossing of the trip. Waited for the collectivo to fill up and 7 hours after we started our journey, we arrived in San Carlos.
We are checked into Hotel Carelhys and are pleased to be back in the land of $15/night rooms and $3 complete meals. Slowly we are adjusting to the necessity of purchasing water and poor sewage systems that can't handle toilet paper. We also have yet to enjoy running water in our room; showers are done via the large garbage can filled with water sitting in the shower. Our fingers are crossed that Papa Hoelter's journey here goes smoothly and that he will arrive in San Carlos via airplane tomorrow around noon, ready to live the backpacker life with us for the next week.
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