Another early wake-up as we prepared to leave Rara Avis the same way we came. After breakfast, we pulled on our socks and boots, loaded our bags onto the tractor, and began our hike down. Unfortunately, our uncanny luck weather-wise had run out, and it was pouring rain. Unfazed, we pulled on our rain ponchos and headed out onto the muddy, slippery trail.
The hiking was even more challenging in the rain than it had been the previous day. Most of the rocks were too slippery to walk on, so we stuck to the mud and the branches as much as possible. Despite careful footing, most of us fell a few times.
When we finally made it down to El Plastico – the hotel about an hour down – we were entirely covered in mud. Cathy had been hiking up ahead of me, and she was convinced she would have dibs on the first shower when we arrived in La Fortuna because she’d fallen twice. Until I told her that I’d actually beat her; I’d fallen three times.
Soaked and muddy, we climbed onto the tractor for the rest of the ride down. Of course, as soon as we did so, it stopped raining and the sun came out. Hard to complain when we’d been so lucky up until then, of course, but it did strike me as more than a little ironic.
The tractor had a much easier time going down the rocks than up the rocks, being helped by gravity and whatnot. We made it down to the base lodge by mid-morning, and returned our soaked, muddy, blister-inducing rubber boots gratefully. After a quick clothing change in the bathroom to remove the worst of the muddy items, we picked up the bags we’d left at the base and piled into a van for our drive to La Fortuna.
La Fortuna is a small town located near the base of the Arenal volcano, which is active. On a clear day, it’s possible to see the volcano emitting lava and ash. But we quickly discovered that the “clear day” is a myth: the peak of Arenal is generally covered by clouds. We had a nice view of it from our hotel room, though.
Arriving in La Fortuna was like rediscovering civilization. The town had phones, restaurants, shops, internet… I hated to admit it but I was grateful. Since we would be staying for three nights, we took much-needed showers, settled in and even unpacked a little before going for some excellent lunch at a restaurant just down the road.
La Fortuna was also the first place on our tour that was squarely “on the beaten tourist track”. This was obvious in a few ways. First of all, everything was pricier than it had been until then. Second, companies advertising adventure tours were located every ten feet. La Fortuna is a good base for all sorts of adventure activities. We considered our options and decided to book a trip to the hot springs, a whitewater rafting trip, a volcano view hike, and a horseback ride to the nearby waterfall.
We opted to spend the afternoon exploring La Fortuna. First order of business was finding an Internet café, which we had yet to do on the trip. I dashed a quick e-mail off to my friends and relatives. Then, we found a great coffee shop, and indulged in some sinfully good coffee concoctions.
Bruised and sore from the tractor rides, muddy hikes and other adventures, we decided that a bit of pampering seemed like a great idea. A trip to the hot springs was just the thing. There are two main hot spring resorts in the Arenal area. Tabacon is the better-known one and is more expensive. Most of us chose to go to the Baldi hot springs instead.
We had a great time exploring the hot springs. Baldi has a bunch of different man-made pools, each with a different temperature ranging from pleasantly warm to very hot. There was even a bar inside the pool, where you could sit on a bar stool and soak in the water while sipping a pina colada. Unfortunately my underwater camera photos didn’t come out since we were there at night and the camera had no flash, but the pool bar was very cool.
The hot springs are a popular tourist attraction and the pools were crowded with people. We met some guys from England who were traveling with an Intrepid group and spent some time chatting. The hot springs were very resort-y, but the warm water was soothing. Spa services were offered as well; though we didn’t partake, we had a good laugh at the advertised mud wrap, especially after our self-induced “mud wrap” from that morning’s hike.
After a few hours at Baldi, we were relaxed and very sleepy, so we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep.
Next: Whitewater kayaking on Rio Arenal.