V. CA Costa Rica/W2, 5d: La Fort-Liber E

Mo, 10.07. La Fortuna: Volcán Arenal & Cerro Chato
Both volcanoes Arenal and Cerro Chato are pretty much Costa Rica's most well-known and popular volcanoes. Most people fly to San José and visit the 3 main touri spots La Fortuna/Arenal, Santa Elena/cloudforest Monteverde as well as Quepos/Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast. These 3 regions are also very beautiful but unfortunately totally crowded and especially now in the holiday season there is a real German invasion :P - it was really strange for me to suddenly hear and speak so much German in Central America and also to be greeted in English instead of Spanish; I didn't like it that much, Costa Rica is somehow not that authentic and just too crowded/touristy :O
La Fortuna is a small village with a nice main square and church from where you get, good weather provided, a good view of 1,707m high Arenal Volcano with its cool shape and size, and I was indeed quite lucky arriving the other day where you could almost even see the summit for sunset :) There was a big eruption in 1968, ruining whole villages and killing many people with the toxic gases. It and Cerro Chato are still active which is the reason why the latter has been closed 3 months ago - it is currently not allowed to hike to the edge of the crater.
After a lot of research and the result that a tour is almost cheaper due to many entrance fees I booked the most popular tour there called Two Volcano Extreme Hike incl good and big lunch box. The tour was pretty good though, the whole day from 9am to 8:30pm and already included everything you can do in this region: waterfalls, hanging bridges, hot springs incl mud face mask and cocktail as well as 2 super cool and partially also exhausting hikes where we saw again a lot of animals. The first hike started with farmland before we went into the rainforest along Cerro Chato. Due to the rain season the whole path was extremely muddy and a real, funny and slippery adventure with a lot of laughter reminding me of the Lost City Trek in Colombia ;) We finally reached a nice lake where you could swing in the water with a rope and also had our lunch there. After that we continued with the bus to Arenal Volcano and the Observatory Park where we had a lot easier walk through beautiful scenery via 2 hanging bridges to a waterfall. We saw again many birds, monkeys and frogs and then went to Observatory Lodge where we got a good view of the volcano and Arenal lake as well as visited an interesting seismographic museum. Around 6pm we then went to my absolute highlight and indeed something completely new: I have already been to a lot of hot springs in South America especially but never at night and moreover, these ones were by far the most natural ones: only wearing a bikini we walked in absolute darkness to a river which was like a natural spa with its strong currents, terraces and super warm water - perfect for soal, body and spirit and especially also the muscles after all the hikes. We also got a cocktail as well as a facial mud mask - Pura Vida, that's the sweet side of life :)))

Tu, 11.07. La Fortuna-Lake Arenal-St Elena/Monteverde
The next day I went from La Fortuna via the famous Lake Arenal to Santa Elena and Monteverde Cloud Forest. I usually don't really like overpriced touristy shuttle services but in this case I would have saved only 4€, taken 12 instead of 3h and having had two boring bus rides. This is due to the fact that the small village of Santa Elena is pretty remote and without real paved but only gravel roads. Coming from La Fortuna I would have had to take 2 public buses going completely around the lake - a far and exhausting, at least 8h lasting trip, the lake is with 87km length and 80m depth Central America's biggest artificial lake (the biggest natural one is in Nicaragua) and has been made after the eruption especially to provide the surrounding villages with water and electricity as well as to have a shorter, quicker way of transport.
This being said, the shuttle conveniently picked me up directly from the hostel and it was only half an h drive to the lake, from there a 45min boat ride via Lake Arenal and then another 1,5h to Santa Elena/Monteverde. The boat ride in particular was amazing, especially as I was quite lucky with the weather and got a nice view of the volcano and the surrounding lush green hilly scenery; they partially reminded me of the Rhine or Lake Chiem ;) The road afterwards was then a pure gravel road, we had a flat tyre and so nice green hilly landscapes. Moreover a lot of interesting information such as about the 6 active volcanoes Poas, Turrialba, Arenal, Rincón de la Vieja, Miravalles and Tenorio as well as that Chirripó in Costa Rica's South is the country's highest point at an altitude of 3,200m.
We already arrived in the small village of Santa Elena located in Monteverde cloudforest region around noon; very nice cooler temperatures, pretty steep and with amazing scenery - but unfortunately very touristy, there was one hostel, touri shop, restaurant after the other and everybody tried to sell you totally overpriced tours.
I first got to know what you can do here for free and found a real adventure with the hike to and climb of the so-called Ficus Tree. The walk to get there was already nice, a bit steep through the village and then the forest but really beautiful and especially climbing in the tree with an amazing view at the end was just nice, also because I also saw monkeys again :)
In the evening I then went to a 2,5h night walk which was really worth it. We already saw a 2-fingered sloth after only 5mins (after the Koala btw the laziest animal in the world) and later even one with a baby, my absolute highlight ;) Additionally, there were a lot of glow worms, both types of Tucan that can be found in Monteverde (Emerald and Rainbow, the latter is btw Belize's national bird), an endemic orange-knee tarantula, a skorpion, a green snake as well as the ruphus-eyed frog :)

We, 12.07. La Fortuna/Monteverde
Costa Rica does not necessarily have to be expensive: I only paid around 5€ for my hostel and that even included an amazing breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast with pineapple and guava jam (!), pineapple, papaya and banana.
There are a lot of touristy things to see in Santa Elena and Monteverde: apart from the super famous Canopy a lot of hanging bridges, hot springs and waterfalls - well, I have already done canopy so many times in a lot of places at more reasonable prices; hanging bridges, hot springs, waterfalls just seen in La Fortuna and could thus already limit my decision and budget. Then there are many animal houses such as butterflies, hummingbirds, bats and snakes - already seen in Mindo, Ecuador as well as Minca, Colombia and I also mainly came because of the cloudforest. There are 3 different reserves in total: Reserva Biológica Monteverde (the most popular but thus unfortunately also most touristy), Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena (comparable but quieter and with more hiking trails) as well as Refugio Curi Cancha (newer). As absolute hiking fan and as it was said you can see most animals there I took the second option and spent a nice day in CR cloudforest.
The way to get there was already again super steep via gravel road so that you almost had to push the bus :P I was again happy about the scenery and fascinated how green everything was and how much moss and life is growing on the trees, the incredible sizes of all the plants and the many butterflies and birds flying around, just amazing ;) Typical for the rain season I had quite good weather in the morning and started with the 4.8km long Caño Negro Hike which only took me 1.5 i/o 3.5h. After that and during the second hike Encantado the weather changed abruptly around 11:30am already and you suddenly had the mystic looking clouded cloudforest. In the beginning it only drippled a bit before it heavily started to pour down and despite good equipment I was absolutely soaked after half an h - but it was still nice, I spent 10m on a viewing platform of the Youth Challenge Walk and was, typical German, prepared for any eventuality with fresh, dry clothes to get changed :P I thus also needed everything in my backpack, did not carry anything in vain and an early morning was already again worth it - in contrast to the Asian rainy season there are no strong, short rains but similar to Germany once it started it would last forever :O
After that I walked a bit around the village and then comfortably watched the rain like in German winter, after an amazing hot shower with hot tea and soup :)

Th, 13.07. Liberia/Guanacaste: Playas del Coco
The next day I continued to Liberia in the Guanacaste region. Unfortunately there are only 3 daily buses from Santa Elena to Puntarenas: at 5:30am, 6:00 am and then only 3pm. I chose the 6am one that took 2h for the 38km via again quite bad gravel roads but along nice scenery until the Interamericana Norte Highway. There I had to get off in Lagartos and catch another bus towards Liberia - everything was easier and quicker than expected so that I already arrived in Liberia around 10am.
Liberia itself is with almost 70,000 habitants again a bigger city and especially known as Sabanero-Cowboy city. It has a nice main square and church but other than that is not very interesting and with a lot of McDonalds, PizzaHuts and even a Walmart quite American. But it is perfect as getaway for the beaches of the Nicoya Peninsula (Playas del Coco, Playa Hermosa, Playa Panamá etc), for the national park Rincón de la Vieja with the same-named volcano as well as to continue to Nicaragua.
Guanacaste is totally different to the rest of Costa Rica, once belonged to Nicaragua and is famous for its already mentioned Sabanero-Cowboy culture with its music and folklore. Surrounded by dry forests it is super hot in Liberia and all the beaches only 35km away, cooler in the national parks with its sulphurous lakes and mud pots and 2/3 of the Nicoya Peninsula's beaches are located in this region.
My hostel was super centrally located only 1 block from the bus terminal with a lot of good information. As I already arrived that early I spontaneously decided to go to the beaches and Playas del Coco. El Coco was also only 1h bus ride away; the village itself is with a lot of hotels, casinos, restaurants etc again quite American and touristy but the dark-black sandy beach was nice and above all also long enough to find a quiet place to relax a bit :)

Fr, 14.07. Liberia/Guanacaste: PN Rincón de la Vieja
The next morning I had a 40min bus ride in the national park Rincón de la Vieja with the same-named 1,920m high volcano and acid lake in the crater - oh yes, I wanted to hike again :)
It is a mystic remote region without many tourists and the soil here is alive and breathing. It is an active volcano: the last eruption was in 1991 and thus quite a while ago but there is still volcanic activity with mud and sulphur pools as well as subterranean hot springs. It is a dry landscape with a good temperature but can also get humid and rainy and there were again many animals such as butterflies, birds, iguanas, lizards and even a coati at the end :)
I took the Las Pailas entrance. The main and supposedly best hike in the country has unfortunately been closed 6 years ago due to volcanic activity. But there were some other hikes - I first did the 2,5/ for me 1,5h walk Las Pailas which was a bit touristy with paved ways and a lot of signs showing all the volcanic activites and then another, a bit more demanding but nice hike to a beautiful waterfall.
After or with Corcovado this was one of the nicest places I have been to in CR, above all because it was not that touristy and the region here really worth it :)

12 days Costa Rica:
It is a very beautiful country with an incredibly diverse flora and fauna, a lot of environmental protection and super clean, modern, safe - but in my opinion too crowded, touristy and not really authentic. It is definitively worth a visit but I had to rush it a bit as it is too expensive to stay longer - however, with an average daily spending of 35€ I only slightly exceeded my usual daily budget of 33€ and hope to be able to balance that in cheaper Nicaragua (CR 50y ago) ;)Read more