Springs and roundabouts

27/5/23

After saying goodbye to mum early, having breakfast in the apartment, and watching a couple of episodes of Firefly Lane, I packed my stuff and headed to the bus station. From there, I found the bus in the direction of La Fortuna. At some point, I had to get out in Quesada and wait for an hour for the next bus, so I grabbed a huuuge chocolate cake with dulce de leche in it and enjoyed it slowly with a coffee. A few hours later, I arrived in La Fortuna. I walked to my hostel and settled in. Then I went to the shop to buy beers and food. I chatted to a guy, Gary, that was working in the hostel for a bit, before heading to a hot springs with a girl from the hostel and another girl from another hostel.

We got a taxi to the miraculously FREE hot springs and walked to find a quiet spot. We chilled there for a good few hours, sitting in the warm flowing river, watching the stars shine in a navy sky contrast with the black shapes of the trees. A few fireflies flew lazily past us. We chatted and chilled. After at least two hours, when we were wrinkly and beginning to get cold, we got out. There was no reception to get a racist so we walked awhile. When the reception came, a car drove past, and we pulled pur thumbs out. A lovely Cosra Rican couple stopped for us and drove us all the way to town – what a winner! By the time we got back, I was starving, having replaced lunch with cake and not yet eaten dinner. I made late night pasta and then slept.

28/5/23

I had a chilled morning, starting with a coffee in a swinging chair and followed by brunch in The Open Kitchen as recommended by my mother. I had shakshuka and a ‘flat white’ with my book, and then spoke to my road trip pals on a group call. Afterwards, I went back to the hostel to change and went for a run. I ran on country roads although the drivers weren’t friendly and didn’t give me any space. The views of the fields and volcanoes were pretty either way. After my run, I stopped at El Salto River for a refreshing dip and chill. Since it was a Sunday, there were many people there hanging out with friends and family. A few runners came over to talk to me and one told me that he runs up a nearby volcano every day. I was pretty impressed! I watched people swing on a rope swing after I’d cooled down and then jogged my way back to the hostel. I made pasta and chilled.

29/5/23

Today, I went to the ‘hidden’ waterfall. I got a ride with Jamie from Canada along with two Dutch girls, Lois and Anna, and Gary from the US, who was working at the hostel. We had to go behind a fence, and then the path was easy, through jungly woods. It was very green and very pretty. Gary, a Brooklyn boy, could not believe the vast expanse of green nor the strong chorus of its inhabitants. We crossed the river and carried on along a single track, passing only a couple of people. As we got closer, everything opened out, and there was a beautiful enclosed pool surrounded by high rock sides and with trees overhanging it. There wasn’t a soul there apart from us. We got straight in, and I headed for the waterfall. I climbed up next to it, and the girls followed. We all sat there a bit before the current pulled me into the pool. I passed close to one of the rock walls and was about to grab onto when I noticed a small green snake nestled onto the rock. The girls came to look, and then we returned to Gary. Lois and Anna gave Gary a crash course in swimming, and then we went to the waterfalls again. I saw a crab nestled on the rocks this time. Jamie and I jumped off a rock in the middle of the pool. Then we all headed back.

On the way back, we stopped by the supermarket as Gary said he would cook us lunch. After buying the ingredients, we all chilled while Gary cooked. Then we ate a glorious tofu and coconut curry with egg fried rice and beans and plantains. It was super good. Afterwards, we chilled, and later, we all headed to the hot springs minus Gary, who had to work. A French girl, Emma, who lives in Medellin with her Colombian boyfriend, came as well. We squeezed five of us into a taxi on the way there, no questions asked, (only a slight eyebrow raise), and off we went!

The hot springs were, of course, still warm and beautiful. The stars were not as clear, but the fireflies were. We drank beers in the pools and chatted. We were joined by another Jamie, from the US, a guy who never stayed in hostels and always had a car. Luckily for us, he was happy to give us a ride back to town after the hot springs! It was a tight squeeze, and one of the girls folded herself into the boot! I claimed the front seat as the longest being, muahahaha!! Since Jamie had never been in a hostel before, we invited him in and decided we’d cook him a hostel dinner. None of us had much food, but we cobbled together a decent veggie pasta with pasta reinforcements bought by the Dutch girls. At 10pm, Jamie was asked to leave as a non-resident guest. We said our goodbyes, and then I showered and slept.

30/5/23

Today was volcano day! I had fancied hiking the volcano for a while but just had never quite got round to it. Jamie had said she fancied it if I could just wait until after her morning work meeting. People had told me to go early to try and miss the hear, but I don’t like waking up early, so figured it was a good option to go with Jamie. I had a leisurely breakfast on the terrace and ended up not being quite ready when Jamie was done with her meeting! We went into town to buy snacks and check in on her next rental car before grabbing a taxi to the starting point. A nearby hotel collected money to enter the trail to the volcano, but we had read online it was just a scam as they didn’t own the waterfall, and technically, no-one was allowed to climb it. We found a route that avoided the hotel and refound it after a security guard waved us in the direction of the hotel. We had two volcanoes in front of us, were surrounded by greenery, and were walking through long grassy fields. It felt like being in ‘The Sound of Music’ somehow!

Soon, we left the fields and cut up through woods. We crossed bridges with no water beneath them and noticed many a dried up river and even a dried up waterfall with its sheer cliff face. There were massive trees and vines galore!! Eventually, we got to the wood’s edge, where we bumped into three resting backpackers, German guy and two French Canadians. Jamie wanted to take a picture of me with the view, but the floor was small, loose, stones on a steep slope. I edged down carefully, and the guy that I was going round stepped to the side, falling down in the process! Oops! We stayed a short while to make sure he was okay and then carried on up. We passed and re-passed these same three backpackers many times as we all kept stoppfor breathing breaks.

It started thundering. A few people passed us on their way down already. They said we had at least an hour left, but it would be worth it! We spoke to the other three, going up and figured we may as well carry on and face the storm if it came! We already put in the hours (and a lot of sweat)! The thunder kept bubbling up through the woods. Apparently, there can only be woods on the side of a volcano after at least 500 years of it last erupting! Wild.

Without warning, the rain started. At first, lightly, like a shower on low, and then at full whack. It was pretty refreshing at first. The sweat was washed away in less than a minute, and within five minutes, the steep paths were rivers. Our shoes were quickly soaked, and I figured a treat we didn’t need to try and keep our feet dry anymore! I was glad to be wearing my hiking boots! Most folk were in trainers, but one of the other girls was in Vans! Wild!! We kept climbing, now sticking together as a five for safety in numbers. We met a group of lads climbing back up as we were sliding down to the volcanoes’ lake. It was pretty impossible to get down to the lake safely as everything was incredibly slippy, and it seemed highly unlikely we would swim anyway. In the end, we stopped at a viewpoint, and then the French Canadian girls asked the group of boys to wait for us. The girls disappeared into the distance, with the majority of the boys, and then Jamie and I followed with Ricardo, the German guy, and a very kind local guy who stayed back with us to help us navigate. He was such a ninga, practically running down and wearing only sandals. We eventually lost him, and then we became three.

We got back to the steep opening where we first met Ricardo and the gals and decided to go back through the woods the way me and Jamie had come since it was less steep. Ricardo came along of course and while the route ended up being much longer than the route he had taken, it was also filled with gushing rivers and at least three waterfalls that hadn’t existed on the way up. They were breathtaking! We stopped at one river for Ricardo and Jamie to empty their shoes of rocks, and while I also had rocks in my shoes, I decided I’d use the time to eat a sandwich. I had to eat very quickly to prevent the sandwich from becoming sopping wet!!

When we got back to the hotel that Ricardo and the girls had started from, the girls ran at Ricardo. We had been nearly an hour longer than them, and they had worried about their travel bud! They gave us towels to dry off and then we overpaid a taxi driver just so he’d take five sopping wet Gringos back to the town. He wasn’t pleased but he couldn’t say no to our offer!! We said bye to our hiking pals, having bonded through our adventures and then Jamie and I headed home to shower. After a glorious shower, I went out for dinner in a local restaurant with Jamie. We went all put and got a massive casado each and beef nachos to share. It was glorious!!