7 Days in La Fortuna Costa Rica (Part 2)
Afternoon tea with animal friends
It was a rainy afternoon but we had a pineapple coconut bread and we had picked up and some cream cheese which was kind of halfway between cheese and butter that we put on it. Definitely not something you can prepare in the kitchen unless you love ants. Dogs were very interested in this food. We ate and had tea while the rain came down. The big brown dogs wanted to nap but Lucy still wanted to fetch, even in the rain.
A very noisy, gravelly-voiced cat came by. Maybe he was telling us stories of his ancestors, maybe he was talking trash. Who knows but it probably was in Spanish anyhow so he got away with it.
Oh the water
I need to talk about the rain for a second. I’m from Erie, Pennsylvania so I thought I knew a thing or two about precipitation, but the levels of moisture experienced in La Fortuna were kind of off the charts for me. In order for the landscape to be this lush, there needed to be massive amounts of water. Every afternoon or evening that we were there the rain came in, usually with lightning and thunder that was so loud it would make you jump and we’d (I’d?) scream.
Sometimes the lightning was so close it made the lights flash in the house and the thunder came so immediately there was no time to cover your ears. It sounded like a gun shot, and those gun shots also knocked out your wifi for the next 20 hours, when it would maybe get reset… then immediately knocked out again by the next thunderstorm.
dinners in the rain
It became a game to guess if the lightning that just happened required ear covering or not. These storms would usually go straight through dinner time, when we’d sit out under the roof on the patio, cut the fruit we bought and get even more damp from the rain blowing in. We’d barely wear clothes because what would be the point of that anyhow?
Everyone has these covered outdoor areas because you need them. You can’t eat inside because you’ll get ants, so you must eat outside even if it’s raining. You really learn to live outside.
Soon, sitting inside the house feels strange and wrong. Inside the house you learn to live in harmony with lizards and the things that fly in that the lizards will eventually eat.
The rain itself was so heavy and loud on the metal roofs that you couldn’t really talk to each other without shouting so most of the time you just laid in a hammock or sat in a rocking chair on the porch and just watched and listened until it got dark, a forced time-out. The dogs would come and lay at our feet. The rain storms were one of my favorite things about the whole trip. Pineapple house made it ok to just be still.
Day 4: Kayaking on Lake Arenal
Our first “activity” was kayaking on Lake Arenal. This lake is partially man-made and provides a ton of hydroelectric power to Costa Rica. I didn’t realize that when they built the dam in 1979, the town of Arenal was moved to its current location and the original town sits under this lake! While there are many guided tours you can take here, I tend to go for the non-touristy choices and choose to not have a guide.
Sketchy Kayak Rentals 4 U?
We drove to the lake and rented a couple kayaks from a guy off the side of the road (I bet the thought of this probably sounds sketchy to my sister). I was in my own boat and, truthfully, after many years of taking care of my family, it was blissful to have this alone time and be in control of everything I wanted to do and everywhere I wanted to take this boat. This was the moment I realized that traveling without your family can be a really healthy thing for moms/caretakers… and what allowed me to finally say yes to traveling by myself to France (a life-changing experience that I’ll write about soon!) It’s wonderful to have some time where you are not always thinking about others, and you can solely focus on yourself.
Unspoiled Nature
With an idyllic view of the Arenal volcano and surrounding land, I approached an island that had a swampy entrance full of reeds and a little further up on land, a tree full of white cranes. This was like a dream come true for me.
When I was younger and everyone was obsessed with dying of dysentery on the Oregon Trail, I was TOTALLY into this Commodore 64 game about the Swiss Family Robinson. To be washed up on a deserted island and have to survive… this sounds weird, but that’s my jam! I actually think about this all the time. How would I build my shelter, start a fire, how fast do coconuts grow, could I actually kill and eat a fish? 
Here I was bobbing along in a boat on the shore of an island that looked like it was straight out of that game, if it were in higher resolution, and in color, and wasn’t just a static picture…anyhow…yes that game proves I’m old and I don’t care that I’m old. This experience was so incredible for me. I cruised past a guided group kayak tour and they were a hot mess going every direction so I was feeling very validated in my independent roadside stand choice.
Animal sightings
On the way home we spotted a coati and a large lizard that stopped traffic for a couple minutes. I had yet another amazing casado (your average Costa Rican meal of rice, beans, veggies, and/or meat for lunch, we picked up our dinner fruit, and headed home for the coming rainstorm.
Oh, by the way, we wore sunscreen because we knew about how the weather feels great but the sun will get you, but we forgot about the tops of our feet! Please learn from our mistake. You will have regrets about this.
A dog-led escort to the pool
The Pineapple House didn’t have a clothes washer or even more than one bowl in the kitchen, but it was situated on a lovely property with hiking trails that led down the canyon side to a stream at the bottom. In SoCal comparison I should probably call it a river because it had small waterfalls and such, plenty of water moving along here. The dogs always joined us for hikes around the property like it was their job to escort us. Of course Lucy brought a nut for me to throw.
The pool! am I a weenie?
Near the stream was a natural swimming pool fed by rain and the stream. It is as gorgeous in real life as it looks here. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really like getting into cold water. None of us three do, but as I stood there looking at the surrounding beauty I thought to myself, “What kind of weenie would fly all the way to Costa Rica, drive 3 hours north to the rainforest, hike down here with her suit on, see one of the most beautiful scenes she’s ever laid eyes on and NOT get in?” Also, I realized that if I were an Instagram model I would have already jumped in for a photo shoot and wouldn’t be a weenie. Was I more lame than an Instagram model??? Heck no. I wasn’t going to be upstaged by the fictional Instagram model in my head. I am not a weenie. (Ha, that word!)
not a weenie
I got in first, well… the brown dog got in first, then I did. Yes it was cold, but soon it was not. The guys stood there watching me. I said, “Look I’m swimming in a rainforest!” I saw on my son’s face that he had the same realization about being a weenie and he got in. Then we all were in. It was magical. Lucy still expected me to play fetch and kept dropping her ball in the water for me. Once again I enjoyed watching her fluffy white butt disappear around the bends and we never tired of this interaction.
Every day I became less and less of a weenie and was able to get right in without hesitation. I started to enjoy the cold shock of it and looked forward to it. We swam most afternoons until it started raining then we hiked back through the forest in the droplets, usually arriving at the house just in time for the downpour. My son would play guitar on the porch. I’d lay in my hammock. I enjoyed this natural rhythm to the days. I miss this even today.
Day 5: horses! Volcano! Butts!
In the morning, Lucy came in howling for me so we played a little fetch before we were off to our second organized activity. This day we had signed up to ride horses to the base of the volcano.
The weather was perfect. Often, people can stay a whole week here in La Fortuna and not see the top of the volcano due to clouds but we had a clear view all week and especially this day. We don’t often find ourselves on horses but when we do there’s always a willful one and this time I was the recipient of that horse. My horse didn’t like walking through water! In Costa Rica! Horse, you are definitely in the wrong place.
Get ready to be spanked
Have you ever been on a galloping horse? I hadn’t! Wow! Our leader gave us no warning when we turned off the main road onto a dirt path, but he shouted some high pitched YIYEEE and the horses started run. I might have screamed. Ok I did. I was not ready for that spanking. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
I think the leader got a kick out of surprising unprepared tourists because I am pretty sure he was laughing at me. When we settled down, I asked my horse neighbor if I was doing something wrong. She said, try standing up on the stirrups a little when they run. Ok I can do that. It helps a little, but you’re still being spanked, and then my horse went into a full gallop. That is an amazing experience because you are flying so fast through the air and there are points where hooves are not touching the ground so it’s silent in between gallops and you’re sailing through the trees. That was really something I’ll never forget.
Lava Rocks, Great Views, sore butt and a verdict
At some point after climbing a bit through the rainforest, we parked the horses and hiked to a field of lava rocks with a volcano view and overlooking Lake Arenal. The top of the volcano actually steams. On the way back down I saw some blue parrots, lots of different butterflies, and my horse was forced to go through water for me (the horror!) I enjoyed this experience…not sure I ever need that kind of roughing up again, but this was worth doing. Sore. For. Days. Click below for the final Part 3…