Costa Rica - La Fortuna Falls and Hot Springs
La Fortuna Waterfall
With Romney back at at least 60% he and Megan decided to try zip-lining. We enjoyed sleeping in a bit and then met them at 10:00 and drove to La Fortuna Falls.
They are pretty strict about masks in Costa Rica right now but we hadn’t thought we needed them for an outdoor hike. Turns out we needed them for about 10 steps to pass through the gate and they wouldn’t let us enter without them. We had three masks and ended up walking a few at a time and throwing the masks back over to the other half of us. It made me laugh.
As we bought our tickets and figured out our mask problem, it started to downpour. We waited for a few minutes until it died down a bit, got our umbrellas and ponchos out and went for it.
The La Fortuna Waterfall hike is down 500 steps to the base of the falls. By the time we reached the bottom of the 500 steps the rain had stopped and all we could feel was the light humid mist from the waterfall. The kids put on their water shoes and wandered down by the rocks.
Luke, Matt and Dad got in and tried swimming towards the waterfall but without much success because of the strong current pushing them back. Megan and I hung out near the waters edge, or further back for me because of the mist coming from the falls and heading straight for my camera lens. It was fun to hang out for awhile,
And then the 500-step hike back up to the top — with this beautiful view of La Fortuna Falls on the way.
Fortuna Soda Shop
We headed into Fortuna and found a soda shop with great reviews, hidden behind a gelato shop. We sat at a big table outside and enjoyed the signs posted around the courtyard - original artwork from people all over the world who came to enjoy lunch here. Megan suggested we pick out next trip location from the posters on the wall… New Zealand, China, Spain? Perfect. Megan and I shared a fried rice and chicken meal and liked it. Then back to get crepes and gelato.
Hot Springs in Fortuna
Still in Fortuna, we decided to enjoy one of the many hot springs. We moved from pool to pool and enjoyed the different tempered hot pools.
The kids had fun going from one hot pool to the next - always wanting to be on the go. They especially loved going into the one cold pool and then jumping back into the hot pools. Less relaxing, more action. Love these kids.
Especially loved this ‘hottest’ pool covered with a canopy of jungle leaves.
When we left the hot springs, we headed straight to Howlers, the pizza place/bar right down the hill from our house and ordered two pizzas and some fries. It was seriously one of the best meals of the trip… handmade delicious pizzas cooked one at a time. Now we laugh about how long each pizza took to cook… our two first then the Jacksons two… but it was good so we couldn’t complain. Matt got bitten by a wandering neighborhood puppy who seemed to frequent the bar. It was a little scary but no blood and Matt was fine.
Back at the hilltop Casa we played Azul and packed up ready for our early morning departure for part two of our Costa Rica Adventure.