Arenal volcano

Costa Rica is a small country so travel should be easy compared to S America but it's not! There doesn't seem to be any main roads; just windy, hilly single lanes. Us gringos are left with two options: exorbitant 'shuttle transfers' in minivans or taking numerous public buses. Since we are rapidly running out of money we are trying the buses. There is little concrete info on the web about bus times but so far I'm glad to say it's worked out ok. For today's journey from Tortuguero to La Fortuna the shuttle was $55+ each. We spent $20 and although a long day, it didn't seem so. Plus it's far more of an adventure not quite knowing where you might end up.

We got the 5:30am boat to La Pavona (1.25 hrs; 1,600C + 1,000C for big bags - mine is small so free). We didn't see any animals apart from a few birds...possibly all hiding from the lightning storm. From there we took a bus to Cariari (1,100C; 1.5 hrs) then another bus to San Jose (1,735C; 2 hrs). Then we took a taxi to a different bus terminal (3,000C; 5 mins; complete rip-off! I'm not sure if there was swindling or genuine confusion over bus times / terminals; taxis are definitely overpriced in CR). Then we boarded our final bus to La Fortuna (2,575C; 4 hrs). We had initially planned a route avoiding SJ as recommended by the taxi driver in Moin involving 5 buses but the man at Cariari said the SJ route was easier. Halfway through our final bus a few gringos from the boat joined us who must have gone a different route, so seems it doesn't make any difference timewise.

The journey took us through some beautiful cloud forests, which I missed most of as I was busy whiplashing my neck while sleeping. From what little we saw, San Jose (the capital) was an ugly concrete jungle and not worth a visit. Then we passed through never-ending bright green fields and banana fields.

On arrival we got a taxi for $3 to Villas Vilma ($45), possibly our nicest accommodation to date. A row of individual bungalows painted different colours set in beautiful gardens with a view of the volcano. The gardens come complete with a swimming pool and jacuzzi (only lukewarm unfortunately). Our room could sleep 4, has a massive fridge / freezer and most importantly for Anna: a coffee maker!!

Our destination, La Fortuna, is the main town for visiting the Arenal volcano, which erupted in 1968 and continued to spew lava for tourists to gawp at. Sadly it dried up in 2010 but is still a beautiful sight and is sort of on our route to the West coast. There are many different tours you can do but they are all quite pricey so we shall likely just admire it from afar.

When we arrived (about 5pm) the top of the volcano was shrouded in cloud. Soon after that the clouds formed a dome shape around the top and then they cleared. We sat on our terrace watching a beautiful sunset and then headed out for dinner. We are 2km out from the town but there are several restaurants nearby. We chose El Coloso which turned out to be a popular locals joint and had veggie burritos with possibly the best chips ever (with vinegar!) (8,000C).Read more