We were not planning to spend any time in La Fortuna, but we met too many people in San Jose and Manuel Antonio who told us otherwise. So, we took an out of the way bus and booked two nights at our first private room. (A little break from bunk beds). We skipped the free local hotsprings under the highway, and the super “touristic” Arenal volcano and dedicated our day to the Cero Chato cloud forest hike. It was probably the longest most challenging hike I’ve ever done, and in the middle of it I don’t know if I would have said it was worth the $10 (we made jokes that the guys at the base should have been paying us instead of the other way around) but looking back it was probably the most amazing thing I’ve done in Costa Rica thus far. When we got to the top, we took a dip in volcanic crater, although the water was cold and view obstructed by fog. It was magical. The whole thing took about four hours and the mist, sad to say, broke my Nikon. That camera has been with me to four countries, nine US states, and resulted in so many blog posts in between. Kind of sad, and that would explain the lack of pictures lately, I now have to be one of those tourist who takes pictures on my iPad. Lame.
This week, since Tony left, I’m back at my favorite hostel in San Jose, making new friends and taking up foreseen adventures.
My parents come in Saturday, and I begin teaching English on Monday. As of today, I’ve been here one month. One and a half more, I’m sure it will fly by too fast.