The drive from Grecia took me past some really amazing scenery and through lots of little towns around Volcán Poás where they apparently grow nothing but strawberries. There were big signs in the shape of strawberries everywhere and strawberry vendors all over the sides of the road. It was also still holy week, so there was quite a bit of traffic going through those towns and through every tourist attraction along the way. I did finally make it through to my next stop, though, La Fortuna. It just took me a bit longer than expected.

La Fortuna is right at the edge of Volcán Arenal. I got to stare at it for most of the way approaching La Fortuna, like in the pic above. The town is also the most convenient base for exploring the area. Lots of hotels, restaurants, and tour agencies. It’s a really pleasant place to hang out and walk around. My first order of business, though, was to explore Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal.

There’s really only a couple of short trails to hike at the national park, but the forest around the volcano is really pretty. The biggest attraction is El Ceibo, a giant tree that fell over. The roots are gigantic!

Mostly I was looking around for animals, but all I found were some orchids and an egg that apparently fell out of a tree.

At the end of the trail you come to the viewpoint atop the 1992 lava flow. This is as close as you can get to Volcán Arenal. It’s not active or inactive, it’s “dormant”. It was dormant for hundreds of years up until 1968 when it suddenly and unexpectedly erupted… for 42 years! That’s right, it erupted for 42 years straight and then went dormant again in 2010. There are still lots of fissures and fumeroles all over, though, making it a very dangerous place.

And if you turn around while at the viewpoint you get a decent view of Lago Arenal. Although it’s dammed, so technically it’s a reservoir, but whatever.

The national park is on the western edge of the volcano. Since the hikes in the national park were so short, I decided to visit the Arenal Observatory Lodge to the south and hike their network of trails too. This place has the benefit of having a really beautiful waterfall on their property, so Danta Waterfall was my first stop.

I don’t know how big the Arenal Observatory property is, but there are miles and miles of gorgeous trails to hike around. Just up from Danta Waterfall I crossed the Danta Bridge and started walking.

Granted, this wasn’t exactly remote wild hiking, but what a great day this is turning out to be. One minute I feel like I’m in a rainforest, the next I feel like I’m in an alpine wonderland.

I also got my first animal sighting when I startled this coatimundi. I got a couple of pictures before he ran into the bushes.

And let’s not forget the ever present volcano.

There are also three other seasonal waterfalls at Arenal Observatory. I hiked all the way out to the end of the trail system to take a look, but only one of them had water. It is the dry season after all. There wasn’t a lot of water at this one, but it was just enough to make it a worthwhile spot to stop and take a break. This place was also blissfully devoid of other people, everyone just goes to the national park and calls it a day. So much peace and quiet!

On the way out I had to walk past some horse pastures where these three white horses were grazing. What a great day this has been! I grabbed a smoothie at the lodge to reward myself before driving back to La Fortuna. Yummm!

Costa Rica in general is prime habitat for sloths and around La Fortuna there are least a dozen places where you can go out with a guide to try and spot some. I picked one that seemed the most legit and best reviewed and started my day with a sloth safari. The first thing we found, though, was a small bat colony sleeping under some leaves.

I saw a lot of sloths on this tour. They say the average is five or six, but I saw eight! Awesome! Sloths are mostly nocturnal, so during the day they’re not very active and they hide so well. I probably walked past a bunch of them yesterday and didn’t even know it.

Between my guides trained eyes and spotting scope and my super zoom I got a lot of cool pictures of these guys.

The terrain around where we were hiking was pretty spectacular too.

This guy in the pic below was the only one that was active, at least while we were looking. He was climbing down the tree a bit right towards us. I just stood directly underneath him and aimed my camera straight up.

The sloth hike was only a couple of hours, but I’m really glad I decided to do it. Sloths are really interesting animals. Anyway, next I drove out to the big overdeveloped and way too expensive La Fortuna Waterfall.

The hike down to the waterfall involved a long descent down a thousand steps of doom. It is definitely a beautiful waterfall, but at twenty dollars per person, the only thing steeper than the steps is the price.

There was also a small orchid garden near the top. I only found two orchid blooms since it’s the dry season, but there are dozens of different types here. I bet this place is amazing when they’re all blooming.

After an early dinner I took a guided night hike to see some of the nocturnal action in the forest. The big stars of the show are the red eyed tree frogs. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any because it’s the dry season and they like the rain, but we did see a lot of other really cool things. The first thing we found was… a wild pineapple. Haha!

There are many many different types of frogs and toads out here. We didn’t seem to have any trouble finding the toads.

We eventually did find some other frogs too. This rain frog below we saw near the trailhead at the end of the hike because they sprayed water everywhere.

There was another rain frog and a glass frog further out though. They’re really hard to spot.

Most of these frogs are really small, no bigger than the tip of your pinkie. This rain frog below was chillin’ inside a mushroom.

Much easier to spot are the brightly colored arrow frogs, also known as poison dart frogs. They’re so small and so cute, but I can’t help but leap back in terror when one hops towards me. I don’t wanna die! Actually, they’re really only dangerous if you touch them and then lick it or rub your eye, but it’s still scary.

Even scarier than the arrow frogs were the giant wolf spiders. Welcome to my nightmare!

There were also lots of little anole lizards and this really cool owl eye moth. When his wings are open it looks exactly like an owls face looking at you. From this angle, if you look down at the tip of his wing it resembles a snakes face.

The real highlight of the evening for me, however, was the fer-de-lance. I had never heard of this snake before, but it’s the most commonly found viper in Costa Rica. They’re bite is deadly and they are known to be aggressive and unpredictable. Luckily, this guy was just chillin’, but we gave him a very wide bearth just in case he got any ideas.

We ended the hike with one last glass frog sleeping on a leaf. The red eyed tree frogs were a no show, but this night hike was not at all a disappointment.

About an hour and a half north of La Fortuna is another of Costa Rica’s national parks, Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio. Surprise! Another volcano. The main reason for visiting this park is not actually the volcano, however, it’s the Río Celeste that flows through it. First, I have to do some more hiking to get to the river. Along the way I spotted some capuchin monkeys walking around up in the trees.

Even though you come here for the river, it would be unfair not to give the parks namesake some attention. Volcán Tenorio is inactive, supposedly.

After the viewpoint there’s a short descent down to the river and the first thing I see is sulphuric gas bubbling up through the water. Inactive, you say? Hmmm.

Right near to the sulphuric bubble bath is the Laguna Azul. It looks like a blue sports drink. I swear these pictures are not enhanced, the water really is THAT blue. Pretty much the whole river is this color, in fact. More on the water later, though.

Towards the end of the hike I came to this bridge, but before crossing it, just off to the side on a tree branch I saw something. Holy Crap… it’s an eyelash viper!!! The eyelash palm pit viper is another ridiculously venomous snake common in Costa Rica. They don’t get very big, but they will still kill you pretty efficiently. Luckily, they’re not known to be super aggressive, but still, I zoomed my camera in as far as it would go and then got as close as I dared.

What a rare thing to see, that was so awesome! Now I can cross that bridge. I took pictures looking in both directions. That blue water is mesmerizing!

Just after the bridge you come to the end of the hike. There’s a fence and a sign telling you this is the end so there’s no mistake. Also here is the spot called Teñidero. This is where the Río Buenavista and Quebrada Agrío meet and flow into Río Celeste. When the aluminosilicate particles in the water get to that increased acidicity in Río Celeste from the volcano, they expand in size big enough to reflect blue light from the sun. This is the exact spot where that happens. Yeah.. SCIENCE!!!

As the sign indicated, I guess I have to turn around and head back. Back over the bridge and yup, my eyelash viper is still there. In the bushes, though, I spotted a tapir. No way! A tapir looks kind of like a pig with a long snout, but they’re actually related to horses. I can’t believe I get to see one of these guys too! Who needs a guide?

This day has been so unbelievably fruitful, but I’m not done yet. I skipped this part earlier because there was too many people, but on the way back I descended the Volcán Tenorio steps of doom to the Río Celeste Waterfall.

What’s better than a neon blue river? How About a neon blue waterfall?

And now, of course, it’s back up the steps of doom. What an incredible day this has been!

This was my last official day in La Fortuna. In the morning I started driving for the next stop, but on my way I took about a thirty mile detour to the north to check out yet another waterfall. I have plenty of time since the next stop isn’t very far away. Right off the highway and an extremely short hike down is Catarata Llanos del Cortés.

I took off my shoes and shirt and went in for an incredibly refreshing swim. Swimming all the way out and looking directly up at that falling water rushing toward you is quite something! There were also little fish in there that liked to come up and bite my legs. That part wasn’t so much fun, but it wasn’t too bad, just startling.

After drying out a bit I got dressed and hiked up to the top of the falls and was able to get pictures from both sides. This is a really beautiful and out of the way place for being right off the highway.

This section of my trip has been amazing as far as wildlife goes. Llanos del Cortés gave me a parting gift by letting me cross paths with this iguana. I was happy to see him even if he wasn’t so happy to see me.

I hopped back into my trusty rented Suzuki Vitara and started making my way back south to what I hope will be another fun and critter filled stop. That’s it for this post. See you in the next one…