La Fortuna, Costa Rica

To say Costa Rica is diverse is an understatement.  In just a few hours a person can travel from a heavily populated city consuming a valley to a misty, windy mountain top, a person can peek at a green inverted v-shaped mountain standing just miles away with its quiet demeanor hiding a turbulent, violent capacity simmering inside.  On the warmer flatlands farms raise pineapple, rice, and sugarcane, and on the farms, in the hills, luscious vegetables flourish.  If you don’t like the blue waves of the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica, there are miles of turquoise blue waters and white sandy beaches on the Caribbean side.  And I can’t forget about the jungles and the vast diversity of plant, animal, and insect life here.  Many cures to today’s illnesses lie in these jungles.  Stan and I are trying to get to know as much of this tiny but mighty country as we possibly can in just three weeks.

The small town we visited after leaving San Jose was La Fortuna.  I just love that name!  We could see Arenal Volcano easily from our upstairs deck but we never could see the volcano’s top.  We had heard about Costa Rican cloud forests, we now understand the meaning. Clouds are on the horizon almost all the time.   It’s damp here in La Fortuna.  It’s a blessing that I let my hair go curly these days.  Trying to keep a “do” would be impossible for me here.  But the colors and the shapes of the lands are oh-so-pretty.

We drove to the Volcano and hiked all the trails.  We captured nice photos of the volcano as close as we were allowed but again never saw the top – that collar of clouds!!!  To compensate for not allowing us to see the volcano sans clouds, Mother Nature gave us orchids . . . wild orchids grew in the woods near the top of the last viewing point.   We thought we might visit the swinging bridges in the afternoon but after a late lunch at a soda, we headed home for a rest. 

A “soda” is a small mom & pop restaurant much like the “fondas” in Panama.  It is the only type of restaurant where true typical Costa Rican food can be found.   I believe that!  We have had meals at more upscale restaurants featuring Costa Rican food but most tasted as if it came from a box or a can.  But in a soda, the “mom” takes your order then heads to her tiny cocina and cooks it.  Her casadas always includes rice, black beans, a small salad, vegetables, and a protein like pollo, chuleta de cerdo, camarones, pescado, etc.)  The meal is inexpensive, is clean food, and is freshly cooked while you wait.  I’m done with meals like spaghetti, chicken carbonara, rosti, and hot pot in Costa Rica.  Oh, and as we found in Panama, Puerto Rico, Portugal, and Spain, many typical Costa Rican platos automatically come with both arroz y papas – rice and potatoes and often the protein is served with fried plantain as well!  Lots of starch!!  I try to make myself remember to order a casada sin arroz but I usually forget.  I just don’t eat it r the plantains.  The other stuff is delicious and plenty-filling.

The next morning we drove to Onca Tours for a guided rubber raft trip down Rio Frio.  I’m battling a cold and just could not manage to get up at 4 am to start our trip early so we missed the high-activity time for most animals.  Still, we saw cormorants, snake birds, caimans, egrets, herons, trees full of iguanas, and families of howler monkeys that we irritated with our fake howler calls to cause them to roar.  The male iguanas are easy to spot.  Mating season is approaching and already their skin is becoming colorful.  We found several two-toed sloths sleeping high in the trees and caught one moving from one limb to another.  The day was rare and wonderful.  We had full sun for the trip and the easy glide down the river made it feel like a true, lazy summer day.

There is so much to do and see here.  I’d gladly come back.  People hike to waterfalls, hike above the canopy via hanging bridges, and zip-line through the forest.  They take tubing trips down the Rio Celeste and bathe in the natural hot springs in spas or in the free hot springs creeks flowing in the woods just outside Arenal National Park—now that’s my style!! They also stop at sloth reserves or animal preserves.  When you travel, please do not patronize “animal reserves”  Many of these are nothing more than captured animals on display and exploited for profit.  Some of these go so far as to call themselves a sanctuary.  Instead, opt for guided wildlife tours in a natural setting.  If I were to return to the Rio Frio area, I’d book one of the new “tree house” cabins with included homemade desayuar at Onca Tours, take a 7 am raft or kayak ride down the river, and see all the animals in their new day glory. Maybe I’d see the brilliantly colored toucan or the quetzal that both have alluded to us so far.