La Fortuna
Travel Advice for Seniors: La Fortuna
Well…. we had to leave the beach and rainforest at some point. And now for something completely different…how about a volcano?! We headed for Arenal Volcano National Park and Arenal Lake, it’s about a three-hour drive, so made a few stops along the way.
If you ever are traversing northern Costa Rica heading for the Arenal Volcano or St Elena Cloud Forest from Tortuguero, be sure you stop by “The Best Pineapple Tour, Costa Rica”. The tour features a tractor-pulled wagon that goes through the plantation showing the various stages of pineapple growth. The pineapple farm and process is interesting, but the best part is the comic relief provided by the owner/tour guide. Briefly upstaged by the sighting of a nearby toucan, he recovered nicely and gave us an information-filled tour of the grounds and what goes into pineapple processing.
For the curious: The growing period for a pineapple is about 12-14 months. These days the growing seasons are controlled by the application of ethylene gas, when the gas is applied the pineapples are ready for market in five months. Each pineapple has three “babies”, the first piece of fruit is picked for market, the second is replanted and the third is regrown for the next season’s fruit. This process is completed twice before the field is uprooted and nitrogen added to the soil for another planting. 22,000 pineapples can be grown per acre. The focus is on organic growing as the market is better for them.
It is a bit of a long day what with the hour and a half boat ride back out of Tortuguero, then a three-hour bus ride plus the stop and lunch, so we were happy to call it a day when we got to the hotel…. but not before we had a salsa dancing lesson!
Just what you feel like doing at the end of a long day of travel, right? Learn salsa dancing? I don’t usually like doing things like this, but this was actually pretty fun, especially with a beverage of your choice to get in the mood! We took a bus over to the studio and two gifted ladies walked us through the steps. It was a pretty simple dance, really you just keep moving to the quick beat of the salsa music! Anyway, it ended up being more enjoyable than I thought it would be and if you have a few minutes, it may be worth checking out.
Next day we were refreshed and ready to go for a hike at Arenal Volcano National Park, looking for birdlife and the elusive sloth. The hike itself was not overly strenuous, though there was a more difficult hike that some of our group took. There were walking sticks at the park office, and I would highly recommend that you take one or two, even though they are real branches and not the aluminum ones we are used to. The terrain was unlevel and you did have to watch where you were walking, but there was plenty of time to check out the volcano. We were fortunate to have clear, sunny weather and had a pretty decent view of the volcano, which is fairly rare as I understand it.
The Arenal volcano violently erupted in 1968, with lava covering 15 square kilometers and several nearby towns. Unfortunately, 87 people lost their lives. Apparently, a hydroelectric plant was being built nearby and the engineers noticed something was off, but by the time warnings were out it was too late. This eruption was followed by several smaller eruptions throughout the 2000’s. It has been classified as active but has been dormant since 2010.
However, we did listen to a drill on what to do if it erupts (run like hell), which was a first for us. There is a nice coffee shop with a great view of the volcano at the end of the hike. We didn’t see much wildlife on the hike, but it was a beautiful day, and the volcano was on full display. Thankfully, no lava was!
Following our morning hike, we stopped by a nearby eco-tourism project for farm to table food. We were able to walk through the gardens, viewing different types of plants that are common to the area and are used for food and other purposes, until the rain chased us into the covered area for an early lunch. Lunch was an interesting combination of the usual (rice and beans plus stewed chicken. Again.) and different vegetables grown on the sustainable farm. It was fun to taste some veggies that we don’t get in the US.
After a bit of shopping in La Fortuna, we were off to do one of our favorite things: Relax in the mineral baths of Arenal Hot Springs. It was evening and the pool areas were artfully lit to make it look like paradise! Which it certainly felt like! Highly recommended after a day of hiking. We also had time for a lovely buffet dinner which had more selection than just rice and beans for a change!
Where we stayed: Montana De Fuego. Individual cabins and hotel-like two story buildings. With swimming pool. Accessible parking, restaurant and rooms. Be sure to specify if you would like to be closer to the reception, our room was on the furthest end of the resort by the lake, and with a nice view, it was a hike up and down a fairly steep hill to get there and it was pretty dark to walk on an uneven rock surface at night.
How we got there: Hour and a half water taxi from Tortuguero and then a three-hour bus ride with stops. This was part of a 9-day small group tour through Costa Rica.
General Accessibility Information: Hotels in larger cities can be fully accessible, with others further out partially accessible. Some tourist attractions are accessible or at least partially accessible. Specialty tour companies include Wheel the World and Il Viaggio Travel. However, outside of a few parks, accessibility is limited due to uneven surfaces and lack of infrastructure. Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements. See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
