LA FORTUNA

After a couple of hours in a minibus we arrived at Lake Arenal. While waiting for the boat to take me to La Fortuna I met two nice guys from France. We ended up having a big photoshoot on the lake with the beautiful view of the Arenal volcano in the background.

 I had booked a private room (with a shared bathroom) at Arenal Backpackers Resort for 2 nights online. When I arrived they upgraded me to a room with 2 beds and a private bathroom for the same price. Haha. I wasn't even suprised this time - I'm a lucky person that's for sure. It was also a very happy moment when I saw the big pool in the garden and hot water in the shower. I went to bed early the first night and woke up the next day with lots of energy. I met up with the two French boys and we went to see a waterfall. To save 10 dollars I walked the whole way home in the heat. I almost got a tan and everything!

 The next day I booked a organized trip to go hiking for two hours at the volcano + see the Baldi hotsprings. The "hike" was a lot easier than I expected, and we were pretty far from the volcano. But I got to see a beautiful sunset over Lake Arenal and a good view of the volcano after all. 

 The Baldi Hotsprings are so fancy I didn't know what to do with myself. Insane FLASH-packing moment I tell you. There is 25 different thermo mineral hot water pools there that flows naturally from the base of the Arenal volcano. From the hike only a Spanish-speaking couple came to the springs, and there were almost no other people there. So I found myself alone in this beautiful and romantic place, and it was actually good to be a alone for a few hours. That almost never happen, even if I'm supposed to be travelling alone. 

The next day I booked a raftingtrip from a random guy at the street. Luckily the other people in the group turned out to be crazyfunny! We had two boats and spent 2,5 hours on a 3/4 level river. I'm pretty sure I was laughing the entire time - even when I fell out of the boat. Half way we got fresh fruit, and I'm telling you that the pinapple from this area is amazing! Afterwards we went to a restaurant where they served us a big tasty meal. 

La Fortuna is not exactly a a partyplace.. The bar at my hostel was one of the most busy places in town, but people went to bed at 11 pm at the latest. Guess it didn't hurt me to drink less and sleep more. Tomorrow I'm crossing the boarder over to Nicaragua, and I'm superexcited. Everyone I met so far seem to like Nicaragua. I booked at taxi for 06.00 tomorrow morning!