Day 96 : La Fortuna

Having done enough volcanoes, I was originally not planning to visit La Fortuna

However, I wasn't keen to wake up early to take a 6am bus to San Jose, or wait till 2.30pm to depart.  So I decided to check out La Fortuna, which is just about 106 km away. 

There are 2 ways of getting to La Fortuna.  By public bus, which takes 6 hours.  Or a "jeep-boat-jeep" option that takes about 3.5hours, with the boat taking a short cut through the lake (instead of going around the lake on the bus). 

Leaving at 8am, I was hoping to be picked up by a Jeep, but a bus showed up instead. 

The journey towards the lake took over an hour as we went past windy roads with scenic views of the countryside.

There were more people than I expected taking this route, with at least another 6 different similar sized buses completely filled with passengers, waiting to board the ferry.

It was chaotic at the lake, with the group which came from La Fortuna disembarking, while those coming from Monteverde was trying to embark. 

The boat ride took over an hour and was also another scenic ride, before catching another shuttle to my hostel at La Choza Inn.

Besides being very centrally located, the key reason for selecting this hostel was because they provided free shuttle to a free hot springs, a must-do activity in La Fortuna.

There are of course many other things that one could do at La Fortuna, such as climbing the Volcano, but I just wanted a very leisurely trip.  

Vince had also taken the same route and he decided to also stay in the same hostel.  Getting on the free shuttle offered at 5.30pm, we made our way to the hot springs.

We were dropped off along the main road and asked to follow a small pathway for about 100m to reach the hot springs.  Darkness had already set in, and with an unlit path, we fumbled our way down. 

We got to the bottom of a flight of stairs and saw a flowing river, with a small section of pools under a small cascading waterfall.  There were already many people in it at the time we arrived, and we slowly find a space to settle in. 

The water temperature was warm and sitting just under the cascades, I got a nice massaging effect as the water fell on my shoulders and on my back.  It had rained earlier and there was still a coolness in the air, while our bodies stayed warm in the water.

We stayed in the pools for about an hour before we made our way back to the main road to catch our ride back. 

It was a good thing we had bought some food from the supermarket to cook for dinner, because the moment we got back to the hostel, it started pouring. 

Nice to be indoors after the hot pools, and enjoying a plate of chicken stir fry with rice.