This was a rough day, I had to drive for four hours after little sleep. We stopped somewhere over the mountains so that I could take a 30min power nap as a migraine had set in. It took everything in me to concentrate getting through the extreme fog. We arrived to our Airbnb, which by the way was in the middle of no where, that you really needed a 4x4 to get to & we were all alone on a mountain. We were in El Castillo, close to the lava fields, the adventure parks & at the other side of the volcano. The town of La Fortuna was a 40min drive away, solely because the roads were so bad. I spent the rest of the day in bed to play catch up. I was wrecked but the wifi let me watch copious amounts of netflix.
Day 2: Still feeling like shit but managed to do a 3hr hike today around the hanging bridges. It was difficult at times, especially haven not eaten in 36hrs but it was truly beautiful. That afternoon we spent the day hiding from a thunderstorm in the butterfly conservatory where we saw a Gold Owl Eye & a Blue Morpho. Although butterflies are beautiful creatures they actually can be really evil. They practice necrophilia, cannibalism & they stalk the females & eventually rape them. Who knew? We saw the Costa Rican Red Eye Tree frog hiding under a leaf. He is bright green & camouflages during the day while sleeping. He tucks in his orange & blue legs. They are nocturnal, they come & go as the please from the conservatory. While this guy is not poisonous, his friends nearby are lethal. There was the red dart frog & then the bright green & black fella. This guy is supposed to put you into respiratory failure with his poison. Note to self: Don't touch anything that is bright, usually it means danger. FINALLY, I saw my Toucan, he had a black body and a big bright yellow beak. I would never have found him except some locals pointed him out in the tree to us. My sickness caused me to feel cold, so we headed to the famous Tobacan hot springs, unfortunately I don't have photos from here. It included a buffet dinner which was useless to me but Farah had a great time. It feels like a resort & manicured but the place is put together really well & there are plenty of hidden private spots. The flowing river ranges in heat, some areas are hotter which wasn't so good for my dehydration.
Day 3: We hiked the 1968 volcano trail & over lava & lava fields. It was like something from another world, it wouldn't be us if we didn't get lost. Luckily all roads lead to the car park. I was really looking forward to our adventure afternoon with Sky Limit. We spent 2 hrs ziplining, hiking, climbing, tree dropping, running across ladders, swinging & rappelling down waterfalls. It was incredible to see the jungle from such heights. We definitely went through some clouds on our zipline. I have attached a video of our zipline tour below. We ended our day soaked, tired & cold so we made another trip to the hot springs except this time we found the free springs across the road from Tobacan. This is where you will usually find Coati lining the road. People please don't feed the wildlife. They are packed with people & if you plan on going at night be sure to bring a flash light. I was looking forward to eating a little at Lava Lounge in La Fortuna, unfortunately my nachos were burned which is an almost impossible task to be honest. I mean the entire three layers of nachos were no more good. That was $10 wasted. If you would rather cook, there is a supermarket in La Fortuna, other than that about a 100 restaurants have your back. If I was going there again, I would rather stay in La Fortuna to walk around at night. It gets dark quite early & there was nothing to do on the mountain once the sun went down.
I am learning that I am more of a beach person that a mountain person. It is much cooler in the heights of Costa Rica & I prefer being sun soaked by the shores. Farah on the other hand prefers the cooler weather. Our next stop is Monteverde. If you want to see our last trip, press here for San Jose.
