Jumping off, Climbing up, and Soaking in La Fortuna

The La Fortuna area of Costa Rica is probably the most heavily traveled destination in the country. If I were to guess, it takes the lion's share of the 1.7 million visitors that come to Costa Rica annually, because the area was so Americanized and overrun with tourists, souvenir shops, and spa resorts as to look more like Palm Beach or Disney World than an amazing tropical country that is no larger than the state of West Virginia. All that being said, we know from our experience with U.S. National Parks that even in the very touristy destinations, it's still very easy to escape the masses and enjoy a thoroughly personal and unique experience. For starters, we booked an amazing private home on Lake Arenal about 45 minutes from the town of La Fortuna and away from all the craziness. This was our peaceful retreat each evening and a way for us to connect with a more local flare of the area.

The La Fortuna area is full of adventures of all kinds, and we definitely found ours! Our first full day there had rappelling off of waterfalls in store for us! Rebecca and I had rappelled before on one of our first dates back in 1993, but it had been many moons. Our kids had never rappelled before, a couple of them had done ziplines, but we were all kinda unsure about what to expect. We booked a "Canyoning" adventure with the company PureTrek and I could not recommend it more highly! They took us down 4 or 5 waterfalls ranging in height from 80 to nearly 200 feet, and also gave us the "monkey drop" experience and were very fun and entertaining hosts the entire time. We were all grinning ear to ear and count it as one of our favorite memories of all times! The canyons and waterfalls we traversed along the way were strikingly beautiful and it would have been awesome just as a hiking trail, but to get immersed in the waters while jumping down the very cliff faces on a rope was such a unique and exhilarating alternative. We are SO GLAD we chose this tour! BTW, there are knock off tours that advertise the same experience, but only PureTrek has access to this set of falls and rappelling infrastructure, so I'd say stick with them.

The next goal we had for the area was to tackle one of the twin volcanoes. Arenal is the largest and most prominent conical volcano in the area and the landmark that visitors come to see. Right next to it stands it's dormant older brother Cerro Chato. At 3740 feet with a crater that is 500 meters across containing a green lake in the bottom, it is a strong attraction for hiking enthusiasts who are ready for a strenuous but rewarding trek. That definitely describes the Heath Family, but we weren't sure we'd be able to accomplish this feat on our trip due to heavy rains, the actual trail being closed by the national park service, and not knowing exactly where we could find a trail head to start the journey. We chose to start from the Arenal Observatory side and found a trail head where the parking lot monitor guy gave us a map and said "wink wink, the Cerro Chato trail is closed, but if you wanted to hike it, here is where you'd find it on the map". LOL, so off we were. The first 2 miles or so were flat and beautiful in primary rainforest with lots of birds and jungle sounds that we enjoyed. We crossed a dormant river bed, an ancient lava flow that is now being reclaimed by the rainforest, and eventually got to the intermediate section of the trail where we could see a view of the rainforest canopy below and the trail beyond became very steep, abandoned, and challenging. Onward we trudged, through the heavy rains that came about every 30 minutes, lasting no more than 10 minutes each, but soaking us nonetheless. We had our rain gear and it was not unexpected at all, but the moisture begins to seep into everything after a few hours and wear on your stamina. Luckily, there were 2-3 other small groups out there for the adventure as well, so we periodically ran into other humans and could exchange theories about the trail ahead, what to expect, and chat about how far we all really felt like going. There's a sort of camaraderie that you build on a tough hike in the back country with fellow travelers that you meet along the way. It's hard to explain unless you've been there, but each of you has an innate trust of the others. You are all miles away from any sort of help. A snake bite or running out of water or a broken bone could spell disaster back here and everybody knows it, so you look out for each other and share knowledge for the communal good. To me, this trail spirit is the core of human nature at its best and one of my favorite joys in life. When we strip away all the trappings of our modern lives and all the safety nets and comforts we've grown used to, people are all just people. And deep woods people who want to conquer a volcano have a kindred spirit that bonds them almost instantly way back in the wilderness.

Fast forward to late afternoon, we had 7+ miles and over 140 stories of vertical climb under our belts and made it back to our car, grateful for flat ground and a chance to rinse the mud off our shoes in the cool river. This volcano had sapped all the energy out of us and nearly tapped out our water and food supplies along the way, but it was one for the record books for the Heaths. This is going down as the hardest hike we've ever done. The weather didn't cooperate for us to see the crater, but we got nearly to the top nonetheless and are so proud of our kids for climbing hand and foot, even with rope assist at times to scale the steep muddy inclines of this unforgiving volcano encased in savagely beautiful ancient rainforest. We used tree roots, lava rocks from ancient eruptions, crude steps carved out of the mud walls, and all our faculties to navigate this unmarked and barely visible (at times) trail. Despite all my fears of what could go wrong, we made it back safe and sound with lots of stories to tell and everyone in good spirits. We aren't sure if the Costa Ricans have a volcano God like the Hawaiians do, but if there is one, they looked down on us with favor that day. :-)

We had one full day left in the La Fortuna area and after two grueling days of adventure we had nothing left in the tank to do anything but enjoy the local food and soak in the healing hot spring waters of the Tabacon river which flows off the volcano. Most visitors choose to stay in one of the many "Hot Springs" resorts or pay the $100/hour spa fees to get into the rejuvenating waters of the Tabacon, but we had seen and read about where the locals access the river for free, so we went to that hangout. Once we got there we felt totally at home, it was just like a warm water version of Barton Creek in Austin. We quickly noticed that most of the locals were scratching what appeared to be clay rocks onto other harder rocks and creating a putty that they then painted their faces with. So we followed suit. We found the small grey clay rocks and mushed it onto our faces too, just to enjoy the natural and free skin cleansers that the locals enjoyed. All in all, it was a great way to wrap up our strenuous and exciting time in La Fortuna. Of course we wished that our amigo who brought his BBQ pit out there and was making tacos for his entire family would have shared some with us, but beside that it was the perfect family CHILL day!