Busy, busy, busy

Saturday, May 03, 2008
Fortuna, Costa Rica
The next few days will be crazy. Tonight, we are taking a tour of the Arenal volcano at 4, and then going to the local hot springs afterward until around 9. Tomorrow, out the door at 7:30 for a full day boat ride through the Caño Negro region, where I should see monkeys, caimans, toucans, and tons of other wildlife. Then a half day of white water rafting followed by a bus trip to San Jose to finish off this leg of the trip. Whew.

Update from home:

Indeed, Fortuna was crazy busy and loads of fun. We took a brief walking tour where we saw a Fer de Lance snake sleeping right on the path!
We were lucky enough to have a clear view of Arenal volcano at night, and actually got to see the boulders of lava come tumbling down the side. We followed that up with a trip to the famous Baldi hotsprings. A little too commercial for my tastes, but still fun to soak and relax after a long day.

The next day at Caño Negro was great. Our guide even told us that we had pretty good luck in seeing all the animals we saw. Three different types of monkeys (howler, capuchin, spider), caimans, sloths, iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards (so named because they can walk on water!), slider turtles, and tons of different bird species. The capuchin monkeys were really special--due to the dry season, they come down to the river to drink, which means we got a much closer view of them than we would normally. Plus, our guide shot photos through the binoculars to get some extreme close-ups:

The day after Caño Negro was white water rafting time! Eight of us from the tour went, which made for two boats of four each, plus a guide in the back. I had a blast; the other group, not so much! We never left the boat, whereas they were thrown several times and got banged up pretty badly. No photos, sadly, but great memories. We finished around three, had lunch, and then boarded the private bus to San Jose and the end of Part I of the trip!

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