Day 3

We are leaving Monteverde today for La Fortuna to see the Volcan Arenal. First a jeep, which is actually a minivan, takes us down a very bumpy, pot hole filled road, which takes about 2 hours. Here we come to Lake Arenal to catch a boat. It has been raining off and on all morning but, of course, when it comes time for us to get out of the van it starts pouring, and I mean pouring!!! So after a short walk to the boat we are soaked even  with a raincoat on.

The boat ride is pretty uneventful and its so cloudy and rainy that you can´t see much but we were told that on a clear day you can see the volcano. What we can see is very beautiful. Costa Rica has not let us down in beauty. It is so green and lush, lots of hills and mountains.

So, we get to the other side of the lake where we see a sign saying that there are crocodiles in the lake. Thank god we did not have to swim. Another minivan is waiting for us where we load up and it drops everyone off at their respective hotels. Shortly into the drive it becomes very obvious that this is a major tourist area. Lots of posh resorts line the road to Fortuna. We have decided  to stay at the very luxurios Mayol Lodge. We had read about it in the Lonely Planet book and it seemed like a clean, decent place and we needed a place close to the bus station since we have a very early bus to catch. Well, it was basically a room very, very basic, but what can you expect for $30. Actually, I think we payed too much for it.


So we head out to see what Fortuna has to offer. We see a lot of tourists and many souvenir shops. You can see the volcano from town and it is starting to clear up a bit, so we decide to head towards the volcano. By the way, it is still active and apparently lava is flowing on one side of it.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

Anyway, we see a scooter rental place and Steve is recalling our days in Thailand , so we feel confident that we can safely ride this thing. So we drive and get as close to the volcano as we can but the road to the observation point is very bumpy and would be brutal on the scooter.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

We go back towards the lake where we got off the boat and find a side road to drive down. There is a tourist bus parked on the side of the road and everyone  is out looking up at the trees. Well, there is a monkey and her baby sitting up there. Yay!!! Our first monkey sighting, thanks to the tour, otherwise we probably would never have seen them.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

We continue on up the road which is very steep in parts and follow it to the end  where there is a restaurant and a park of some sort that u can tour through, but the restaurant has a nice balcony where you can see the volcano and the lake, very beautiful.

There is a Ecological park that we wanted to see so we had back down into town. On the way back, another tourist bus stopped and everyone is out looking up in the trees. There are a couple of toucans and across the street is their nest. Very pretty birds with a bright yellow beak.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

We get to Ecocentro Danaus. It is a reserve that has many plants, frogs, a butterfly garden and monkeys. We arrive just as it is closing.Disappointed, we turn away to go back to the scooter, Arturo, the kid at reception, calls us back and says its ok he will stay and let us walk through the park. He points out a sloth sitting in a nearby tree. No wonder we could not spot any in Monteverde, he is hugging the tree and looks like part of the tree. Again we would never have seen him if he was not pointed out to us.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

We are enjoying the walk and come to a butterfly garden many different kinds of butterflies live here and are very beautiful. On the other side of the butterfly garden is the ranarium where the frogs reside. Arturo is here with another couple from England. Here he  points out various frogs to us. We continue on to the lagoon where there are lots of heron and supposedly a couple of caiman (small crocodile) although we do not see them.

From Steve and Kathy's Travel Blog

Next is the medicinal plant garden. Arturo, who is 20 at most, is very knowledgeable and tells us about the different plants. Cinnamon, mint, oregano, even a chocolate plant. More frogs and their eggs are also seen here.

We continue on the trail towards the end and see many flowers and other beautiful plants on the way. Steve is in plant heaven. He is so excited to see the different plants and wants to identify them all. High up in the trees are a couple of iguanas. They are very large but are just hanging out in the treetops.
On our way out I check the tree where the sloth was and see that he has moved and is now hanging out in one of the tree branches. He seems to be frozen in one position. Then slowly, very slowly he moves his arm and then a leg. It makes me wonder how the heck they get any where. According to Arturo, he comes down the tree only once per week.

Thanks to Arturo we had a great experience at the reserve. He was so friendly and we were so grateful to him for staying 2 hours late to guide us through the park and let us get the most out of it.
Back to town to grab a bite to eat and walk around the town a bit more. Off to bed early, have to be up at 4:30am to catch the bus.