la Fortuna waterfall

La Fortuna Waterfall and Arenal Hike with Rainforest Explorers

We were picked up at about 10 am by the driver for the tour. There were already 3 other people in the van who had done a morning boat tour as part of their package.

First stop on our trip was the La Fortuna Waterfall.
The walkway to the waterfall was much better than I remembered from 2012 when I had visited! I remember doing the hike in Tom’s shoes. They were the only extra shoes I had brought and by the end of the hike they had basically disintegrated. This time I was much more prepared and had actual hiking boots.

Our tour guide, William was an amazing, stopping to show us different plants along the way and explaining what they could be used for.

The flow of the waterfall was crazy. Costa Rica had a ton of rainfall recently and actually was hit by the first hurricane ever the week before we visited.

When we got to the bottom he gave us plenty of time to take pictures and he assessed the danger of swimming in the lagoon below the waterfall and said it would be safe if we wanted to go in, but to not go out too far. The water was FREEZING but you we HAD to get in! We swam for about 30 minutes right underneath the waterfall while William watched our things. It was crazy, the current would try to suck you right in towards the waterfall. You had to actively try to keep yourself near the rocks.

There was another calmer area that you could swim in also, that had some small fish swimming around in it. We went over there for a bit, took some more pictures and then it was time to go.

We dried off and changed then we were taken to lunch at Rio Lounge.Read more