A short taste of the Tourist Costa Rica, a trip to La Fortuna

Being a volunteer in Samara pretty much means that you stay in the same place all the time, but for Semana Santa (Easter week), three odd-looking volunteers set out to get a taste of the Tourist Costa Rica, and what place is better to go to than La Fortuna: Tourist heaven covered in lush rainforest, ground-touching clouds and of course; the region's undisputed highlight: Volcano Arenal, the third most active volcano in all of Central- America.

Due to a slight lack of research (though we had the Lonely Planet's guide open in our lap every day for the past week), the odd-looking volunteers arrived in the cold, rainy La Fortuna wearing mini skirts, flip-flops and bathing shorts. A few local people pointed at us and laughed "stupid tourists!" Humbly, we nodded.

We stayed at Arenal's backpacker's resort, a self-proclaimed 'five star hostel' where I had my first warm shower in a few weeks, and harassed a Swedish couple by deliberately forcing them to speak to me in Swedish. (I'm a Norwegian; all this English is acing my tongue.)

In the afternoon, we went to a local restaurant, were I had the most amazing fish soup I've ever tasted, I mean, octopus, crab, muscles, shrimps, salmon…creamed. So cheap, you get all hot n' bothered when you pay. What's funny is, with Arenal being a tourist paradise; the restaurants go by such names as "El Eruptus" "Hot Spring and Swing Lounge" "Los amigos de el restaurant Eruptus" and so on.

After a good night's sleep, we set out to see the waterfall La Catarata de La Fortuna, a sparkling seventy meter ribbon of clear water pouring down on a handful of moping tourists and the few daredevils that so boldly went to swim by the falls.

We found a hidden trail that took us straight into the deepest of jungles, and suddenly, the sounds of clicking cameras were replaced by the howls of monkeys, squeaks of hanging bridges and the ever- so-loved rhythm of flip-flops, anxiously walking into…The Great Unknown…

Luckily, a jungle-man (well, actually he was a tour operator, I just wanted to use an exotic word) found us and said that we couldn't go into the forest dressed for a beach party, and besides, the forest was private property. I tried to initiate a discussion on whether you can call nature property or not, but the other volunteers (Kathy and Limpy) were not having any of it and just looked away and called me Norway.

In the afternoon we went to Baldis hot springs, some ten thermal pools of hot hot hot damping water, chill atmosphere and the constant mating calls of spring-breaking Americans.

In Costa Rica, during the last few days of Semana Santa, no one will serve you alcohol, but we soon found out that since Jesus Himself was a major wine lover, they'd serve us wine, and all was fine.

That night the Big Plan was to go see the Volcano, so we got into a shady car with a shady man who said he'd take us to the best spot for seeing the lava-flow. Fifteen minutes and seven thousand colones later we were still staring at a thick belt of clouds with disappointment gleaming in our already misty-(from-the wine)-eyes. But hey! We had quite a good time in the car on the way back (ever tried dancing with your upper body only?), and we had great night for the remainder of the night, but that information is not for this kind of article.

All in all a great trip!

Author: Ase Formo, 19 years old, Norway
Volunteered: April 2007.