Nov 6- Next stop, Arenal/La Fortuna

6:00am-ish, I’m awake roosters….SETTLE DOWN. I set my alarm just in case one of the 3746 animals failed to wake me at a decent hour: THEY DIDN’T

We have to pack and say goodbye to our first and favourite stop so far…How will we top this little jungle abode?

Jayr was nice enough to drop us back off downtown, at least we could say “Hasta Luego” for now…

We are headed to the Volcano Lodge and Springs in La Fortuna

I booked us a Caribe Shuttle for 10:30am to Arenal/La Fortuna, it was $62/pp from Puerto Viejo. You can take a bus, but it would have to go to San Jose first, then you switch buses and head up to La Fortuna (way longer.) There is the shared shuttle option (that we did), or you can rent a car or private transfer. We ended up being the only 2 that were headed up there, so we had the whole shuttle to ourself, (complete with onboard wifi). They said private transfer would have been $300, so we got a deal technically.

Our driver was a local from Puerto Viejo, he was born there but his family is from Jamaica, think his name was Melvin. He isn’t a regular driver with Caribe; only helping them out for a few weeks while other employees are on vacation. He drove us for a few hours, then we stopped at a soda for a bathroom break/coffee. After another 20 minutes we met up with our second driver, who took us the rest of the way so Melvin could head back home. The next driver was Donnie, but his nickname is Baldy (shaved head). He took us another 2 hours until we reached our hotel. We passed pineapple plantations, and papaya trees. He told us all about La Fortuna (he grew up there), and gave us recommendations of places to check out. We were dropped off around 4:00 to our hotel, just in time for happy hour at one of the bars!

The Volcano Lodge is a smaller family owned/operated hotel, with 65 rooms. It has views of the volcano and man-made hot springs. We were in a quiet room furthest from the lobby, no volcano view but we had gardens. The volcano was half-covered in clouds when we arrived

I booked us a mix of AirBnb’s, hotels, hostels and local stays on this trip. Every destination we wanted to go, I scoured the internet for some good finds/hidden gems. This hotel in particular, came up for $60/night on Expedia, complete with buffet breakfast……OK! We threw our stuff in our room, freshened up and hit the bar for some drinks (happy hour, remember?) We decided to stay there for dinner since it was already getting dark, and that we would head into town the next day to book a tour of some sort/eat dinner there.

Jay ordered a Peruvian chicken dish and I ordered chicken parmesan/sghetti dish. Both were alright, about $14/each. I think I went back to the room to continue trying to blog and Jay went back to the bar for more cervezas….pretty sure I passed out around 9:30 and he wandered back around 10:30 since the bar closes at 10……SUCKER.  Told him if he doesn’t behave Im’a push him in the volcano….but that requires a hike to the top……so…….you know how I feel about hiking…..

Until tomorrow. Enjoy your snow FAM 😆