Day 6: Hiking and Relaxing
January 9, 2011
(sorry about the post going up late… we have had wonky Internet for a while)
Since day 5 was so packed, we took things a little slower on day 6. The morning was spent chatting to a parrot in the cafe area at Leaves and Lizards. It mostly said HOLA… a lot.
The rest of the morning was spent lounging around our cabin and napping on hammocks until lunch.
After lunch, we hiked to the Arenal River, had us a swim and then hiked back. We met some escaping cattle, an angry horse and an old bridge.
Check out the photos from this days events!
Randy and Andi!
Sorry for no posts the last couple of days, the power went out on day 4 and I fell asleep on day 5.
Day 4 was spent leaving San Jose from our hotel, the Adventure Inn, and traveling for four hours to La Fortuna. Our brief stay in San Jose was sunny and bright, and our move into La Fortuna became very, very cloudy and moist.The big thing about La Fortuna and the surrounding area is the Arenal Volcano. The day we arrived it was too cloudy and rainy to even see, and this has apparently been the pattern for the last two months. So, from the sounds of things, we had a good chance of not seeing the volcano on our trip.
The rest of day four was spent napping and relaxing on the hammocks at our cabin in the Leaves and Lizards resort which was 30 minutes away from the town of La Fortuna. When you look through our photos you will notice that the cabin has an amazing porch area overlooking the forest, and when the weather was clear, we should also be able to see the Arenal Volcano. We went to bed with the power out throughout the camp, so we sat in away from the mosquitoes and watched some Doctor Who on my netbook. Sorry nature.
Day 5 started with us going on a horse-ride at 9 AM through local jungle and ranch land in the area, leading us to a sequestered waterfall for us to swim Throughout our horseride, we were able to some awesome wildlife such as the rare nocturnal creature of the two-toed sloth, along with some more regular three toed sloths. We were also able to see some white hawks, which our horse guide noted are also very rare to see out in the open. It took us about two hours to get to the waterfall with the intermittent rain that dampened Andi and me. A short hike from our horses later, and we came upon a spectacular waterfall, that honestly seemed too perfect. After a half hour swim near the waterfall, we got back on our horses and headed back to the resort.
On our way back, the sun finally broke through the day and a half of rain and heavy cloud cover. With the clouds breaking up we were finally able to see the volcano! We hurried along, cleaned up, and met with our guide to hike near the base of the active volcano. We traveled along with a British couple, Michelle and Raph(?), to the national park near the volcano and got to see some brilliant sights of the volcano up close, the nearby lake and a toucan that ate a flower like it was a bag of Doritos.
I would also like to note that the roving bands of dogs on the streets in these communities are tiny dogs. I am fairly certain I can take them.
Look for the photos of day 4 and 5 to see all the awesome things we did.
Randy and Andi
A Conscientious Blog 
