Costa Rica: Day 4

This was our morning view of the Arenal Volcano from our hotel room. So pretty! Our tour started at 8:15am so, off to breakfast we went.

The tour bus picked us up right on time. We met a fun couple from Austin, TX who were on the tour as well.

Volcanic rock covered in lichen:

Here is our tour guide and the rest of our crew waiting...for boulders that are close to 15ft in diameter to shoot out of the top of this volcano and bounce down the side. This eruption happens close to every 10 minutes.

Lucky us, clear skies:

Arenal Lake:

There were orchids sprouting up everywhere, (no, of course I didn't pick them)!

After our tour was over, our guide gave us some tips on things to do and places to eat. We decided to hit up the La Fortuna Waterfall on our way out of town. On our way down towards the waterfall, we found this tree that I could probably call home for a night or two.

It was a bit of a hike to get to this waterfall. There were many, many steps.

We finally made it!

...and the POWER of the water....!!!

Yep, we were there.

After our visit to the waterfall, we started our trip back through the mountains towards San Jose. It was a long drive. We left La Fortuna a bit later than we had planned. We knew we needed to make good time so we wouldn't be driving at night. Reminder: No street signs/names in Costa Rica. We didn't know exactly where our next hotel was and thought the trip could be challenging. We were right. We got lost. Once we better understood where we were heading, we attempted to correct ourselves. The final few miles of the trip were very complicated so, we stopped to ask for directions. I ended up chatting with a pharmacist. I showed her the address of our hotel. She was so kind and called the hotel to explain the situation. She told the hotel owners where we were so he could tell me, in English, how to find the hotel. She passed the phone to me so the hotel manager on duty could guide me. I couldn't believe the directions he gave me. They were something like, "Go down the hill into town, take the 2nd left after the church, go down a hill, over a bridge then up a hill, past a motorcycle shop. Finally, you will see a food store. Take the left just before the food store. The hotel is one half KM in." We made a few more wrong turns, rejoiced when we found the motorcycle shop and then really celebrated when we pulled into the hotel just after dark. Success! Our hotel was worth the effort. It was amazing, actually.

The main building at Finca Rosa Blanca!

The lovely pool I didn't get a chance to swim in:

Steve and I in the common area of our hotel:

Neat fixtures!

We had dinner at our hotel's outdoor restaurant. We had a great view of San Jose...well, for most of dinner at least. At one point, I looked out towards the city and the city lights had gone black! I asked our server if there was a power outage. He said, maybe but, most likely the fog was rolling in. Funny.

That Key Lime Tart was the tartest tart I've ever experienced! Delicious. I had a great night of sleep before starting the trip home to Vermont the following morning.