Costa Rica: La Fortuna

Our first destination in Costa Rica, or the first tourist hole we drove into, was La Fortuna. The town is located at the foot of the Arenal Volcano, which with its perfect cone shape is actually one of the most beautiful volcanoes we have seen so far. However, that's about all there is to see there. The town itself doesn't offer much besides restaurants, tour agencies, and hotels.

We went on a hike in the private Arenal 1968 nature reserve, where you walk along a lake, through lush forest, and on a 1968 lava flow. The hike lasted about 2.5 hours. Apart from the toucan and the squirrel we saw along the way, it's not really worth mentioning. To make matters worse, it was raining when we were there.

La Fortuna is known for its many hot springs. Some of them are very exclusive, with entrance fees that are completely unreasonable. In the evening, we decided to visit one of these hot springs and ended up at the Los Lagos resort, where the entrance fee was at least somewhat affordable. The facility was nice, with several pools and a bar right by the water. We managed to find a small pool that we had all to ourselves and enjoyed a few hours there in the hot water.

The next day, we drove along the Arenal Lake to Monteverde. It's a winding route that offers beautiful views of the lake. Along the way, we stopped at a nice little restaurant that had a wonderful panorama and enjoyed a delicious cocktail. In the restaurant's garden, we could also observe some hummingbirds.