We had a good flight from Madrid through Bogota and arrived in San Jose about 4pm. Spain was getting a little chilly in November so it was great to feel the hot humid air when we left the airport. It was only 68 miles from the airport to the mountain town of La Fortuna but our shuttle ride was over 3 hours long. Traffic was tough getting out of the city but the twisty narrow roads were what really showed us down and we were glad we didn’t have to drive. We had considered renting a car but Costa Rica is the only country that does not allow foreigners to use insurance that comes with credit cards. So the cheapest rental cars are about $100 per day with the required insurance. We didn’t want to do that for 6 weeks. It is going to be a little tough, but we plan to rely on Uber, taxis, shuttles and the few bus routes that they have here. It worked fine in La Fortuna but we will keep you posted on how it works for our other 5 towns that we plan to visit here.
La Fortuna is a funky tourist town at the base of the Arenal Volcano that erupted fairly regularly from 1968 to 2010. It is dormant now but the tourists still flock here for nature eco-tourism. People come to see the birds and animals and the beautiful rain forests and waterfalls, as well as adventure sports like zip-lining, rafting, and bouldering. Almost everything here costs money. All the hiking trails, eco-parks, waterfalls and hot springs have an admission fee, and fairly hefty ones at that ($14-$42 per person per attraction). We had to pick which attractions where we most wanted because we can’t afford them all.
The first day, we were a bit jetlagged, but we were overjoyed to find a sloth in a tree in our backyard. He ended up staying in the same tree the whole week we were there. His name is Sammy. They are the most boring animals ever to watch, but for some reason, I watched him a lot. I’m not sure who is laziest, the sloth, or the guy that watches a sloth all day. After staring at him for a couple of hours, we went to the only free thing in town – a swimming hole in the river with a rope swing. The water was just right to cool down from the 85 degree, high-humidity weather. We were remembering 70 degree Spain a bit fondly by now…
Our first paid destination was the La Fortuna waterfall so we figured out how to use a bus to get to the trailhead. Admission was $18 per person and was 550 steps down a metal staircase to the base of the waterfall. We saw our first toucans and took a few pretty cool pics.
We met our Airbnb neighbors when we got back and they invited us out to dinner and live music with another friend they met river rafting. They were all very fun people and the couple also happen to be nomads and we had a lot to talk about travel and such. We all wanted to visit the hanging bridge park the next day so we made plans to drive together in their rental car and share the nature guide.
The Mistico Hanging Bridge park was fantastic and we feel the $45 admission and guide were well worth it. We saw coatis, agoutis, spider monkeys, wild boars, snakes, tarantulas, poison dart frogs, and lots of birds including a crested owls, a motmot, a trogon and bats. The jungle trails were super thick and green and it was cool to be above everything on the cable bridges. Lots of pics… some good… some grainy. I wish we had room to carry a real camera with a zoom.
We really like to hike or walk a lot wherever we are, but found it a little tough to do in La Fortuna. The roads weren’t very pleasant or safe to walk on. The hikes all cost money and many needed an Uber or bus to get to. But we were itching to see more animals so we found a hike at the edge of town (Bogarin Trail) that only cost $18 per person and the tickets lasted 24 hours so we could visit it on 2 separate days. We saw a momma sloth with a baby, poison dart frogs, aguatis, and tons of new birds including a crested guan, chachalacas, black and white owls, a roufous-tailed jacamar, wood-rails, and a collared aracari. We spent a whole morning slowly getting lost in their maze of nature trails. I am still a very amateur birder but my species life list is getting up there because we are traveling so much. I am starting Costa Rica at 369 different species and after visiting these trails for 2 days, I am now up to 411. My wrote about my birding process with the apps I use last year. This is my favorite birding place so far. Again, I wish we had enough room in our carry-ons to bring a real camera.
On our last day in town we decided to go check out one of the hot springs parks. There were plenty of options but we chose one that only had a $10 entry and had several different pools at different temperatures. I’m not sure it was really water heated from a geothermal source but we had a relaxing morning in the not very crowded water.
Our Airbnb was a converted container that was run by a tour operating company. It was a little awkward because the couch just looked at the door and the only TV was in the bedroom. It had a very small jacuzzi tub that we didn’t even try to use. But, this will be a very memorable location because of our friend Sammy the Sloth in the backyard. I would come back here just to watch our sloth some more.
Current Costa Rica bird count- 55 species with 41 of them added to my life list.
Total Life List- 411 bird species
Next stop-Monteverde!!!
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