Day 40 & 41 (La Fortuna)

Went out in search of breakfast.  According to the guide book there was supposed to be a nice little vegetarian restaurant overlooking the park (Parque Nacional) right next to our hostel.  We walked around the block and couldn't find it.  We walked through the beautiful park instead. On the other side of the park there also did not appear to be any restaurants.  We walked another block and came upon the dim sum we had walked by the night before. April agreed to indulge me stating that it was only her second time having dim sum.

The restaurant was tastefully decorated with traditional (chopsticks brought over in hot water and CARTS!!!) dim sum service. While seated waiting for our food I did a bit of research.  The Chinese first immigrated to Costa Rica also for the railroad and have been trickling in ever since.  People of Chinese ethnicity make up 1% of the population.

After breakfast we packed up once again and took a taxi to yet another bus station.  There we bought our tickets to La Fortuna and waited with several other tourists.  

The four hour bus ride was nice enough. I was glad to have no air conditioning, but open windows instead which led to being a little sweaty but at least I wasn't freezing.  There were also moments of beautiful scenery which somehow reminded me of being in Switzerland with the cows and the rolling hills.  Interestingly enough when I later read the guide book, it made the same comparison, Costa Rica being the Switzerland of Central America.

Once we arrived in La Fortuna we were greeted with the usual horde of taxi drivers, hotels, and tour companies trying to get our business.  We made our way through town to the hotel we'd already picked out of the book.  Here they said they didn't have any of the cheaper dorm beds left but then quickly changed their tune once we decided to go elsewhere.

We later found the gentleman at the front desk to be quite friendly.  He conversed with us in English but then as he checked-in another couple, spoke with them in German.  When we asked him about other languages he listed off several others which he had some knowledge of.

For dinner we walked through the small little tourist town to what they call a "soda."  We had traditional "cansados," mine with fish, April's with beef, which were actually quite good.

In the morning April was off to a zip line tour (I'm trying to conserve my money for language courses and to last me another month and a half at least).  I took it easy, taking awhile to make it out of the hotel and then just staying connected and trying to plan my next moves at a coffee shop.  April joined me at the same cafe for lunch when she returned back from here tour.

Just in case I wasn't quite sure what I ordered.

Afterward we headed back to the hotel where I made my first phone call completely in Spanish in order to reserve a spot for the evening at a hot springs!  We decided to walk the 4 kilometers there which wasn't too bad for about the first 2.  But then we were caught in a couple downpours (it had been raining on and off all day) and we lost our sidewalk and were simply walking on the side of the road at dusk.

The hot springs was very resort like with several waterfalls and many tourists.  This is one of the main differences I am noting between Costa Rica and Guatemala.  Tourism is very built up here in Costa Rica, it very much drives their economy and they cater right into it.  This also means that the whole country is teeming with tourists, Americans, Australians, Europeans.....  And also many giant tour groups.  It seems Costa Rica is the place to be!  However, I appreciate the much more authentic way of travel in Guatemala.  I'm not here for the luxury resorts and the adventurous adrenalin rush, but for the immersion in the culture.  I suppose the culture here is tourism and I'm certainly immersed right now in that.

In any case, we hung around the hot springs for the evening and then got a taxi back to our hotel and called it a night.