La Fortuna – Day 2
James and I slept in until 8 today and were very thankful we picked the 11am tour instead of the 7am tour. I wanted to see if the volcano was totally visible (we could only see the bottom last night) and ran out on the balcony to check. Sure enough, there it was:
I feel so fortunate to have seen Arenal in all of her glory…I’ve read many posts from people who didn’t see the whole volcano once…even over a period of a few days. The lava flow was not on our side of the volcano, but seeing the top made up for that! 🙂
The rest of the day…
We asked Patricia for a breakfast recommendation and she told us to go to La Choza. It’s an open-air restaurant, where chicken is rotisserie cooked over an open flame. Our coffee was served with the best presentation, and the food was typical Costa Rican and delicious!
The wonderful coffee presentation:
Typical Costa Rican breakfast with Gallo Pinto, eggs, plantains, fresh cheese, and tortillas
Fruit Plate
After breakfast, we got ready for our ATV and canopy tour with Arenal Canopy. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but were ready for the adventure! A shuttle picked us up and dropped us off at the ATV area. After a (very) brief explanation of the gears and clutch, we were off (I decided to be independent and ride my own instead of riding with James). We rode through town and up to meet our canopy tour guides. We rode on a bumpy dirt road/path toward the jungle, passing pastures and horses. I was a little timid and fell a bit behind, but the guides waited for me and that made me feel a bit better. They stopped us at one point to take some pictures…
We eventually made our way to the canopy tour (zipline) area where we met our guides and they took over. Our guides – Joaquin and Raul – were incredibly funny and informative. We were the only two on the tour, so we had their full attention. They geared us up and demonstrated the proper and improper form on the lines. Then we started the trek. The hike into the jungle has steps which was great, but it was still an insane workout. We were panting and sweating like crazy, but the scenery was amazing and made the pain a little more bearable.
There were 9 lines…they were all extremely fast and we didn’t have to brake at all on three of them. The climb up to the platforms was sometimes a little scary and I was SO THANKFUL that it was just two of us with the guides. I can’t imagine a big group up there. Here are some pictures from the canopy tour…
We are ready!
James flying down the zipline…
La Fortuna from way up in the jungle!
Another view from the platform…
After we finished the canopy tour, we rode the ATVs back and I was able to keep up a bit better. We dropped the guides off, and drove back to the ATV area and took the shuttle back to our hotel. We’re really happy with how the day has gone so far and we’re now getting ready for the pool and some relaxation!
Note: I highly recommend wearing hiking boots and long pants for these activities. The boots and pants protected me from the gravel flying around, and the boots were awesome for the hike into the jungle.
Tags: La Fortuna
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