I survived!!!

We returned home from our adventure last night.. What an experience!

We decided to travel north the cheapest way possible so we could spend money on various tours and I wanted to be able to bring back some gifts.

We woke on Friday morning at 6am in order to catch the 8:40am bus from San Jose to La Fortuna.
The bus ticket cost $3.75 in total...and for good reason. Yes, eventually we made it to our desination, but it took almost 6 hours (direct would have only been a 2 hour drive). We made several small town stops and pickups. It was amazing to see how people knew where the bus-stops were, since there are no signs and no maps that give you the bus routes. You literally have to ask the bus when it stops where they are headed. Cynthia and I have severe motion sickness, so we felt pretty awful.

We finally arrived in Fortuna and I just needed to get out and smell the fresh mountain air. Immediately we were swarmed by locals, some young boys asking if we need help. I said "No thank you and to please leave me be." I guess he misunderstood me cause the next thing out of his mouth was "Get back on the bus and go back to your country...I am TICO and this is my country." Well, know you all know me very well....of course I didn't just smile at him and allow him to keep screaming at me. SO, since he yelled at me in English, I yelled back "ARE you really trying to fight with me when I get off the bus...you better shut it or I just might throw up on you..." He walked away.

We settled into our hotel and found out there was a tour leaving at 5pm that would take us to the Arenal Volcano and then to the hot springs of Baldi (resort). Each of the 25 pools had different tempartures and were heated naturally by the volcano...YIKES! The tour also included dinner, so we were happy with the price ($45 total for everything).

We passed out when we got back to get ready for day two...

For whatever reason I have been waking up everyday at 6:30 or 7:00am...so I went to the pool and waited for Jim and Cynthia. We decided to book the horse-back riding tour. We started on horse back and went up a HUGE hill, trotting and running through old river beads till we reached the top of the small mountain. There we left the horses in a corral and had to walk down very steep steps to reach the waterfall. The hike down left us pretty tired...beautiful trees and animals along the way.

We climbed a few more steps, over rocks and there at the end was the 125 foot Fortuna Waterfall.

After splashing around a bit, we had to make the treak back-up, at one point my legs were shaking so much, that I had to take a break halfway up. Thank goodness the rain came at that moment, made the hike much easier. We all made it up safely and proceeded back on horseback. Jim (a.k.a. Indiana Jones) ran off ahead of us (accidently dumping out from my backpack towels and the bathing suits...luckily we recovered it all from the ground).

Our guide was a little nutz, which made the tour all the more fun! We all made it back, covered in mud and with a big smile on our face!

The next morning, after breakfast, we braved the roads again on the bus. We took a different route, which may have been shorter, but still rough for me. I was able to get some meds to help with the nausea...but grateful to get back, take a shower and get to bed.

Tonight is a small master class for the singers, hope we have some wisdom that we can share...

ciao for now!