La Fortuna
By Jaimy de Vries
La Fortuna a small city in the north of Costa Rica. The name “La Fortuna” means “fortune” or “lucky” in Spanish and some myths state that the city got its name because of its fate being next door to the renowned Arenal Volcano. The views are amazing from La Fortuna, it’s very green and from everywhere you can see the Arenal Volcano. It’s not strange that it’s on the itinerary of most travelers in Costa Rica. Besides the amazing sceneries there is a lot of exciting things to see and do for everyone!
Transtour
The way to get from Montverde to La Fortuna was easy and fun! It was cheap, just $27. A shuttle company brings you with a bus to the Arenal lake, then you cross the lake by boat what is a tour by itself and then you will be dropped off at you accommodation by another shuttle bus. Even tough it was not just transportation, it was a cool way to go from point A to B and was more or less like a tour. The views on the Arenal lake are pretty with the Volcano on the background. Ones we were in La Fortuna we saw the Arenal volcano everywhere. This is an active volcano with its last big eruption in 1968 and till 20 years ago it was spitting lava.
Getting picked up at the lake
Boat ride
View over the volcano
Back in the bus
Dutchies in Costa Rica
Once arrived we had lunch and went grocery shopping. La Fortuna is a small town but has everything. We also saw many souvenir and tour shops. This part of Costa Rica is definitely more touristy than Monteverde. Like Monteverde it rains every day because of rain season and so did it on our first day. Later in the afternoon when it stopped raining we looked for souvenirs and doing research on tours. We met a Dutch guy who lives here to start his own hotel and he said he knew a good tour company from a Dutch owner called Red Lava. It turns out to be a great tour operator with good prices. We talked a lot with both of them and it was fun having these “Dutch” conversations again. We had fun and decided to go for dinner & drinks together. It was more expensive than our regular dining-out, but it was very good and worth it. It was something different than rice with chicken what we’ve eaten a lot the last couple months in central America. We liked something else for a change. We had interesting conversations with them about their businesses and lifestyle. They earn good money and are single, so let’s say they are living the good life.
Fortuna Waterfall
The next day we went to La Fortuna waterfall. We got there for just $3 with an uber driver. Walking is possible but will take you an hour. The entrance is $18. From the restaurant you’ll have a good view over the waterfall that lays in the middle of the jungle. It looked pretty. After a cup of coffee in the restaurant we went down to the waterfall. There were lots of stairs down…going down it’s not that big of a deal, but we knew it meant going up on our way back. We had the feeling we were in the middle of the jungle. We heard many birds and insects. After 10 min walk down we arrived at the waterfall. It was pretty….even for me… and I’ve seen so many waterfalls by now, including the amazing Iguazu waterfalls. The Fortuna waterfall runs down a river called Rio Fortuna. It’s possible to swim in the river \. The scenery is great with the the waterfall on the background. It was fun, trying to swim against the current and climbing on the rocks. This was not easy.
On our way back we had lunch at chante verde. Here we had the best tuna poke bowl. I’m not a big fish eater, but that was delicious!
View from above
Cool rock wall
Wauw
Enjoying the scenery
And the view
Lava field hike
With Red Lava we went a a half day tour to the Lava field, including lunch and a visit to the hot springs. Our guide Franklin explained us how the Arenal Volcano works. He explained the Arenal volcano originally had one crater, but during the eruption at 1968 the crater was blocked and because of the pressure it created 3 other holes, 3 new craters. Underneath the volcano is a big magma chamber. Because of tectonic movements – and central America is rich of that (Meso American, Caribbean, Nazca plate) – the chamber gets filled with hot gasses and magma. Ones the chamber is full and the pressure is too high it creates an eruption. La Fortuna is also famous for the many natural hot springs. These are created by little holes from the magma chamber releasing hot gasses. A couple of these holes are in the river Rio Arenal. Many companies build a luxury hot spring with that water, but you can also visit the natural hot spring yourself for free. These hot springs are without luxury facilities, but it is free and 100% natural. You can access this next to the Tabacon resort.
We continued our hike through jungle forest and ones higher up we reached the lava field. The contrast between the black lava stones and the green fauna was pretty. He told us a lot about the flora and fauna in this area. One that I found interesting was the battle for sunlight, one we heard in Monteverde too. There are plants that normally live on the ground, are living on the trees to gain more sunlight. At the highest point of our hike we took some nice pictures. During our hike we heard many “dad” jokes from Franklin what was funny. He also had a story about mosquitos. About a mom and a baby mosquito.
We walked to the next trail to the green lake. Again we saw ants carrying leaves. Our guide explained us how they work as a team. They have one queen that can reach an age of 25 years and is 10 times their size. Male ants are with the queen for reproduction. The queen lays eggs every 15 min? The female ants are the workers. The smallest workers search for good leaves and cut hem. The middle seized ants carry the leaves and the searchers ride on the carried leave for free back home. The bigger ants are the soldiers.
View from the Arenal volcano over the lava field and green lake
We arrived at the green lake. Here lives alligators and snapping turtles. We haven’t seen one, but we didn’t walked down to the lake. We did take some pictures that look quite strange. Because everything was so green. It looked like we are photoshoped into the picture.
At last we walked through the jungle to spot some wildlife. While walking to the jungle we saw our first wildlife: a Guati mundi, family of the racoon. It was searching for food, climbing into the tree and jumping off. I told Jaron that I learned you can smell a snake, that’s what I learned in the jungle of Peru. He didn’t believe me. When we asked our night tour guide he laughed, that it is a joke. Now again we asked Franklin and he said its true. He said he studied snakes. Than it must be true right? We later looked it up on the web and it turns out some snakes can smell what has to do with pheromones.
The green eye
Hugging the volcano
The most blue berries I’ve seen
Montezuma Oropendola
#nofilter
Plants growing on the tree are fighting to gain more sun light –
On our hike Franklin called the monkeys with his monkey voice😅. They didn’t come… but half way our hike we were surprised by 3 spider monkeys including a baby. So cute! And we had a lot of luck, again we saw spider monkeys, this time a big group. We were surrounded. They followed us and were very curious. Franklin told us to watch out they like to poop and pee on us to mark their territory. Maybe they feel threatened, because our blood is 98% the same. In the trees and on the ground we also saw wild turkey in the jungle. And a cute turtle. We didn’t expect anything, but got surprised with many wildlife and that on just a 30 min walk.
Black-white cow, just like home
Wild turkeys
jungle jungle
Wild turtle
Spider monkey lurking at us
long lianas
Two spider monkeys on the move
Hot springs
That afternoon we had a typical Costa Rican meal called casave: rice, beans and meat. And afterwards we relaxed in the hot springs for an hour. It was not very special, just lying in a nice looking swimming pool with natural warm water, but it was nice and relaxing. Tabacon would be nicer, but it’s easier if you have your own car. We heard locals go there by night and they bring some wine and snacks and candle lights. How cozy and romantic would that be.
Crazy rafting
We went wild water rafting with Arenal rafting. It was a III/IV rapid on the Balsa river. It was a crazy wild ride. First we were a bit scared because we only had our flip flops. Our friend from Red Lava didn’t told us we need to wear sneakers or water shoes. So big chance we can loose them. Just dint fall in the water they said 😅
We had a great team with a group from L.A. we geared up and got two leaves in our helmet looking like ears, making us team dirty cat haha. After some explanations and little exercise we went in the water. We got completely wet in just a couple of seconds. It felt like we would felt over many times. The river was rough! Sometimes there was so much water in the boat, it was a wonder it was still floating. We had a funny guide and he liked to pull it over the edge. He pushed us in the water, flipsides our boat
Team bad bunny
two times and out us on the rear. It was so much fun! We smiled the whole time, sometimes nervously screaming. We also saw some wildlife, iguana’s and slots in the trees. No alligators luckily😅 half of our ride we saw two rivers collide, the Balsa river with its brown color and .. river with a blue color. It was cool to see then come together. And just after that we saw the Arenal volcano on the background. Wauw! And how rough it was and we were laying in the water 3 times, we still had our flip flops at the end! Woehoe pura vida!
Floating in the river
Posing before a big splash in our face
EL Salto
After lunch the tour ended, but our group invited us to go to El Salta, a nice spot at the river with a big swing. It’s free to enter. It was a beautiful spot with a waterfall and many rocks to chill in the sun or take a refreshing splash in the water. The swing was scary but we both did it and it was fun! Some locals did amazing stunts on the rope. It was quite busy with locals and tourist, but everyone was relaxed and happy and socializing together. Lots of people scared to try the swing but do it any way. So much to see while sunbathing of relaxing in the water.
My guide for your La Fortuna trip
We loved Fortuna and it’s surely a place in Costa Rica that you can’t miss! It’s a small town with many nice restaurant and lots of things to do, like climbing a volcano, walking on hanging bridges, rafting, and many more. And all that while being surrounded by lush green forest and a volcano.
- Recommended duration visit: 4 days
- Restaurants: Chante Verde (best tuna poke bowl), soda la hormiga (cheap Costa Rican food) = sodas are cheap restaurants for locals, Chifa La Familia Feliz (Peruvian-chinese restaurant).
- Highlighted things to do: visit Arenal national park, hike route 1968, walk on the Mistico hanging bridges, visit the hot springs, see the La Fortuna waterfall, Rio Celeste, rafting, canyoning tour.
- Budget tips: stay at a hostel and cook your own meals. There are free places to visit that are really cool: the hot springs for free next to Tabacon resort, take a free jump on the swing at La Salto.
- Our accommodation: Sleeping mountain hotel (had a common kitchen room).
- My favorite activity: Rafting