LA FORTUNA---ARENAL VOLCANO

It was a pretty impressive drive from Tamarindo to La Fortuna by shuttle bus. The countryside has been kept clean and used productively. After Liberia, the sight of the country’s 2nd international airport, we headed east and climbed up to the central plateau again. It was getting cooler and we ran into rain as we started to drive around the 88sq kms Arenal Lake constructed to provide water and hydro electricity for these northern regions. I’m glad I didn’t have any time constraints because it continued to rain for 3 days and completely covered the very beautiful Arenal Volcano.

My accommodations ran an interesting gamut of types. I started at what is touted as the only 5 star hostel in Costa Rica and they charged accordingly at $14 for a dorm bed with 8 to a room. Still raining in the morning and I was bit wet when I got back from breakfast down the road, to find the toilet overflowing! So I went down the road to Luigi’s Casino Hotel and blew the budget on a room that had a genuine bath. It was only $35 a night and I had 3 baths and about a 100 laps of their pool in the rain, so it was well used. Wanting to see this volcano by hook or by crook I went looking again for a cheaper room and found a perfectly good one with a bathroom and TV for $10! So that was cheaper than the hostel, and it was a private room, so was happy to wait out the rain there. There were some breaks in the weather, to go out in and explore this pretty little town and the weekend was lively with a big bicycle race on out near the lake and a baseball game out the back. The central park and church were full of people most of the time and there were some nice shops to explore. Have included some photos from a really good Galleria. So now the rain has gone I can do a few tours to look at this wonderful region