We nearly missed our shuttle because they had no sign or markings indicating that it was either a shuttle or, more importantly, our shuttle, but with minimal delay we made our way down bumpy roads followed by smooth but twisty roads to La Fortuna.
La Fortuna is a curious place. Up till the late 60s it was a small town near some pretty mountains. Then the rivers started to run hot and Arenal started to shake. One day it erupted, wiping out two towns. And it kept right on spewing fire about once an hour, drawing tourists by the droves and making La Fortuna into something like Wisconsin Dells. The volcano stopped erupting in 2010, but the tourists still come for the hot springs, the zip lines, and the waterfall.
We are staying at a hostel that is young backpacker central. It would make me feel old, except I was never young in quite that way.
This morning we went on a hiking tour of the lava flow area. We thought about going on our own, but the transportation options were limited and unpredictable. It was a solid, brisk hike in an area with lots of volcanic rock.
We also saw some of the junk they left behind when the movie After Earth was filmed in the park. Chris lost her walking stick down a bridge, but the guild said it was no big deal. It rained like mad, so I got good use out of the waterproof camera today.
After the tour we grabbed lunch in town and headed out to the La Fortuna waterfall. It is a six kilometer journey, so we were unconcerned about the distance. Then the road started to go up. And up. And up.
We took our time and stopped along the way to snap pictures and dodge the cars and busses heading up the hill. Someone stopped to offer us a ride, but by that point we only had 600 meters to go and needed to make it up on foot just on principle.
Once we reached the top and bought our ticket, we started down the multitudinous stairs to the waterfall.
It was a long way down but worth the walk.
We stayed at the falls for about twenty minutes and then headed back up the stairs, anticipating six kilometers of walking back to town. At least the walk would be downhill this time.
As luck would have it, on one of our many stops to catch our breath heading up the stairs, we started talking to a retired couple from Gettysburg we were also on their way back to the top. When they heard that we had walked from town they offered us a ride, which we were more than happy to accept. Our hour and change walk became a 15 minute car ride and we watched the torrential downpour from our balcony rather than from the side of the road miles from town.
Tomorrow we are off to Monte Verde. And so I leave you with this cat.
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