Arenal Lodge Lake Wildlife La Fortuna

As mentioned in the Monteverde blog, Jaime and I went out to watch some Longhorn football with fellow Austinites and owners of the Pension Santa Elena, Ran and Mike. Each time we mentioned that we were leaving for La Fortuna, they told us that we wouldn´t like it and that it would be hot...like really, really hot! And, guess what? They were mostly right. We were there for less than 24 hours and it was steamy and miserably hot.
La Fortuna, Province of Alajuela, Costa Rica farrahfig

... it was my turn. I too was a bit scared especially given my fear of heights, but it’s different on the cables since you are moving through the treetops at such a fast speed you don’t ever really stop to think about how high up you are. The first cable was a success for all of us and a tremendous rush! Susie and Isabella were pro’s, I on the other hand had a small incident on the second cable where I freaked out after swinging ...

today was like all the rest except it started raining around 1 and we went back to Ville Verde. On special request from Charlotte she saw lightning. To make this blog a little longer here are some quotes from people over here,

"the will never play in the Gaiety"

"South Park Waheeeeeyyyyyyyyy"

"puddin"
< br>"Hola Guapos"

"they all have viruses"
san ramon, Costa Rica gccostarica

... sandwiches, and before I even realised how hungry I was, they were offering us some of their food! We only had some crisps and small snacks ourselves, but share and share alike, and it ended up being enough to tide us over until we got back to La Fortuna. Which could have been a while, as the twice-daily public bus wasn't due for at least another hour, and that was assuming the times we'd been given were correct, so instead, we walked out to the main ...

... i tried to have a day off the next day but beck wouldnt let me and we ended up going to la fortuna waterfall adn having a swim and then going to baldi hot springs which arent natural and are in fact in the middle of a hotel but were very hot and there were loads of pools to wander around, it was a bit like center parcs really. we left la fortuna the next day for manual antonio on the never ending quest to get to corcovado.

... very nice, he guarantees to see lava or you go again for free. We did get to see lava both nights however just through peeks in the cloud cover. The volcano top is almost always cloud covered especially with the rain we've been having. It was really a pretty amazing site. We could see the stream of lava flowing and pulsating through the clouds and lava rocks rolling down the volcano while they burned out. Mr. Lava Lava also took us to ...

... the drift. Look, you don't get much from 80 hours of language tuition, and they certainly didn't teach me what the word for builders sand was! Pretty much finished the new tapir bath, although as you can see from the pictures we made it look more like a jacuzzi. Still, I'm sure Tono the tapir will love it....and I've left a legacy to the zoo that I can point to if ever I returned and say "I did that".

... more shuttle buses were waiting. The last shuttle ride was probably the worst stretch of road you can imagine. It was so bumpy, I felt pretty nauseous by the time we arrived. Monteverde is famous for its cloud forest, and jungle hikes. But Vicky and I wanted none of it. We were here for some adreneline-action. Monteverde has the country´s highest, longest, fastest zip-lining .. and from the different tour companies here, we ...

... white fronted robins, the very ordinary clay coloured robbin (the national bird) and so on; - black vultures and turkey vultures; Later on Nancy and I came across some bright red birds that we haven't been able to identify although they may be summer tanagers or more probably flame tanagers. The day is probably more memorable for two sloths curled up like old vacuum cleaner bags in the tops of trees. Remember, this is not buried deep in a reserve but just ...

... case also makes it incredibly hard to get to...or vice versa. At any rate, the bridge was washed out during the last flash flood and we had to navigate over the rocks in the stream in the dark for the first time. It was a challenge, but it made dinner that much better. The guides there are always so happy when I bring my groups because they know I bring rum. Besides that, they know I can get a party started. And we did. After dinner we walked out to our ...