La Fortuna, Monday

Mon 6th 0910 Slept OK, no big problems. Got up about 0730-0745, booked a free cancellation ho(s)tel in Nuevo Arenal in bed and had a couple of free cups of coffee before popping out to book the 1045 half day lunch+Arenal hike+hot springs tour for USD45 - guy told a British girl ahead of me in queue it would be better to get colones but I paid dollars since price quoted in dollars and I can't believe he's offering better-than-bank rates. I got change in dollars although at first he gave me only 10, but when I showed him price he'd written on leaflet he got me the other 5 no fuss. I figured I'd give him my business as he at least made an effort when I asked yesterday. (If I'd had a price I might have given the honest about the caves place my business though.)

Its cloudy and drizzling but forecast looks like that for forseeable future so no point letting that put me off. I have shoved waterproof gear and swimming trunks and viscose towel (which is too small for proper modesty, but best I can do) in daypack and reluctantly stashed passport in bag (which isn't really lockable, and there are no lockers, but I'm not taking it to hot springs with me - will probably leave both my phones here too, I really would prefer to keep one with me but risk of theft or water damage feels too high) and now having another free coffee while I wait for pickup.

Lunch might be shit but it might be OK and it's probably a smidge cheaper ($5 effectively) than Doña Flor. The non-lunch tour also leaves something like 1345 and the weather looks like getting shitter this afternoon.

The hotel I've booked in Nuevo Arenal is fairly cheap (USD60ish+13% for three nights) and apparently has nice grounds with toucans almost coming to the owner's hands etc, lake views and a bar. Private bathroom too I think. I can apparently get the public bus to outside the door, though it's 4km outside Nuevo Arenal proper - but it sounds nice, it may be a relaxing spot for a few days and I can perhaps walk into town if I want etc (dogs permitting, 4km is a nice-ish walk). There may also be hiking prospects round there.

Feeling the lesson socially from this hostel is I need to be willing to go join a group eg sitting at the single kitchen table or wherever.  This probably works better eg in the morning when I could sit with a coffee than in evening. I am not desperate specifically to meet anyone right now but it feels kind of awkward being on my own when people are talking (not such an issue now). I will do my best to be sociable on this tour this afternoon, even though it starts with lunch and I really don't like eating and talking very much.

Based on talking to Kurt last night (out here in courtyard, not room) he is going up Cerro Chato today - that sounds kind of cool and maybe of interest, but I may stick to my experimental plan of walking over to the waterfall tomorrow anyway. I keep overhearing people talking about wristbands and access to different parts of some waterfall but not really clear what they're talking about. I will try to check price of entry to waterfall tonight and if it's like USD35 to get in I may change my plans.

This is one of those places where not being able to swim cramps my options a bit. Not that I'm *desperate* to do any of them, but if I suddenly was magically able to swim it might be an interesting experience worth the money to go rafting or paddle boarding or whatever. I was trying to learn back in late 2019 before Colombia trip and then pandemic restrictions intervened and I will have to see about trying again once I get back and have a probably relatively solid chunk of time back in London.

I am probably not going to extend here in order to do anything (eg Cerro Chato) I "miss" . You can't do everything, some things may be doable or have better alternatives later, and also if I really wanted to it wouldn't be a huge time/money sink to eg pop back here (even to this hostel) for a night or two after Nuevo Arenal - while guide book says only 2-3 buses a day, it is still only about an hour or two on the bus, I think.

Feeling somewhat reconciled to not going to Nicaragua. I get to "vote" with my money, my time and my actions and I don't want to support businesses implementing expensive PCR-RT tests or countries imposing silly restrictions (which I think is fairly uncontroversial since the vast majority of countries are not imposing these restrictions now, whatever one's view of the larger covid picture). I am also feeling based on eg this hotel booking in Nuevo Arenal that even the tourist-ish bits of CR are in general Grecia-ish prices and not La Fortuna-ish. Particularly since what I really like *most* of the time is walking and other "theoretically cheap" activities (USD20ish for entry to a reserve for the day is fine) and having a few beers and (if possible) a bit of live music once in a while. Here the activities and tours loom large and they are priced high because tourists will pay it, but in general that's not what I want to do anyway.

Last night the conversation I was earwigging on turned a bit Ibiza (somewhere like that)/clubs/drinking/drugs-ish, and while my feelings there are more of envy than outright disapproval, and I certainly like a drink myself, it also felt very young/laddish-but-with-women-participating-too-but-not-sure-what-word-to-use and I would probably have felt quite awkward *in* the conversation. The group probably wasn't huge (just looking at the empty table now, maybe 6-8 tops) but when meeting new people I am probably at my best in small groups of 2-3. In a group of 6-8 I'd probably say next to nothing and feel a bit like I'm not really part of the conversation but just sitting there like an nth wheel.

Bloke at tour desk spoke to me in Spanish today so I went with it. I try to tell myself that even if someone speaks English, every conversation in Spanish no matter how basic or error-prone is probably a very small learning experience (eg I think afterwards "was that right?" and that probably helps me remember) and thus getting more value out of the trip.

1846 Back at hostel, had a bit of a chat with Kurt who also apologised for receiving a phone call from a friend who didn't know he was in CR during the night - I said truthfully I hadn't even noticed. He has also told me about his trip to Cerro Chato today and the nearby Ecologic park which is apparently nicer than the national park.

I am vaguely tempted to extend here by one night and move the free cancellation on by one day. Modulo clean clothes problems, it is cheap enough here in the semi-private room, Kurt seems OK though is leaving Wednesday so I might get another roommate but it would only be for one night, Ecologic Park is apparently only USD15 and I also found out there's this local pseudo-shuttle which can take you to or from places.

1949 Just had fairly long chat with Kurt, he's gone for dinner now. I am not planning on trying to scrape acquaintance with anyone by sitting in the main courtyard, I am in the entrance corridor where there are tables with two chairs and where the odd loner or two sits most of the time. I may force myself to eg sit at the kitchen table tomorrow morning while having a coffee or two.

The volcano hike was better than I expected, the guide did seem to know what he was talking about and pointed out some plants and animals and stuff - photos I think show a wild turkey and then (in the distance) some toucans in trees at the "top". Saw quite a cool hummingbird orchid at the " top" (oh, and an actual hummingbird down in the grounds at the start of the hike). Cloudy at the top of the hike but not too bad, you could at least see the rough shape of the volcano going up - apparently sometimes the cloud can totally envelop that point.

We saw a sloth high in the trees on the way down - I did see it move and tried (unsuccessfully I suspect) to photograph it but it was so high up it was a little indistinct. Jumping ahead, on the drive back to drop people off after hot springs, guide spotted one probably just 3-4m off the ground in a tree by the side of the road so we all got off for a 5 minute look - my camera was in my trousers in my bag (I was wearing swimming trunks and my T shirt) and I didn't take any phone out with me, so I didn't photograph it, but I did have a good satisfying look at it, and it's not like there aren't a trillion photos of sloths on the web. At the same stop - and apparently what the guide was kind of looking for - was a baby eyelash viper sitting on top of a leaf, which was pretty cool - again no photo, a vague pity as both of these would have come out pretty well just with standard camera or smartphone as they were so close, but the real thing is to see them and not to have slightly pointless photographs to prove it.

Lunch was a takeaway style thing served in a cardboard box at a covered area in the park grounds, not bad though - casado, I got steak and I had asked for my salad undressed - only had a plastic fork so ended up picking steak up a bit and biting stuff off it, but not too awkward. Had bit of chat with couple of Dutch girls and couple of French girls over lunch.

The hot spring was apparently the public one just off the side of a road, but we were able to get changed in some showers inside the park and then drive a few mins down to the spring and use the bus as a locker, and the guide gave us a shot of some alleged local contraband 60% spirits (quite powerful but nice enough) and looked after our towels while we were in the water (for about 50 mins maybe). The water was probably 30-35Cish, comfortable (and incidentally this was roughly 3pmish and lots of tall trees round edge so I shouldn't have caught a lot of UV and didn't put sunblock on - I also kept my cap and glasses on BTW) but not super hot. Because this was just some publically accessible point on the river it was very shallow rather than having had a proper "pool" dug out and the bottom was very rocky,  at the deeper points it probably just about covered most of my body lying down. I spent most of the time just downstream of the bottom step-like "waterfall" where the natural action of that small fall created a pseudo-jacuzzi effect. Not the most amazing experience of my life but quite fun in its way and I am quite glad to have done it.

I think tomorrow I may or may not try to walk to the waterfall, with this shuttle thing as a fallback option. As I said earlier, if both this accom and the new accom I booked this morning (which sounds potentially quite good) can let me extend by a day and move my existing booking by a day tomorrow night then I may stick on here an extra night so I can do waterfall (La Fortuna waterfall i think) and Cerro Chato tomorrow and then this Eco-logic park the day after - they are appealing, the kind of thing I wanted/expected to be doing during the trip, and they aren't insanely expensive activities either. If I do both of those I think I've probably given La Fortuna a fair go and had a reasonably good time here while also keeping costs down.

I went to get some cash after getting back to hostel and getting changed properly (we didn't go back to changing rooms after we left hot spring, so I was in slightly damp swimming trunks, shoes with no socks and my long-sleeved T-shirt (which I hadn't worn into the water)). No Banco de Costa Rica here but after a total failure with a red-logoed bank (maybe Banco Popular but not sure) I went to a Banco Nacional and they didn't charge me a fee either, which is good to know. It does look like any machines here offer dollars, which feels mildly astounding given how tourist oriented this is and how everything is priced in dollars, and I've practically run out of dollars, but it's not the end of the world and I got a decent wedge of colones.

I had half hoped/intended to pop over to bus station and check when/where buses go to Tilaran (the route to Nuevo Arenal) this afternoon but after I'd got the cash out it felt a smidge late and I didn't see the need to rush and be wandering round there with 180k on me or go back to hostel to stash it and head back out. I suspect based on talking to Kurt that even if I try walking it that La Fortuna/Cerro Chato is more of a half day activity so I should have a chance to look into this tomorrow afternoon, and push comes to shove I could ask at the desk here (but I'd rather see if I can figure it out myself) or sort it out on the fly on the morning I am due to travel, given there are supposedly 2-3 buses a day.

2040 Incidentally I have a sort of reddish lump on my right thumb which I have had since Alajuela. I have to assume it's a random mosquito bite (fingers crossed that wasn't a malaria one) but it never really itched and seems to be taking forever to go away.

I will probably move towards bed soon-ish, I am not exactly tired but I am slightly and it's not like I'm doing very much. As I say, not trying to scrape into conversations today, haven't done too badly all things considered and I may force myself to sit at the table at "breakfast" (ie coffee) tomorrow morning.
That also feels a little more natural than in the evening, and there's an obvious "escape" of saying "well, I'd better be off, see you later" whereas in the evening I don't have anything else to do.

2047 There is definitely a mosquito hanging round me. Kurt is having a brief chat with some of the guys in the courtyard, which

2241 Bed. Pretty long chat with Kurt, mostly quite natural feeling. Interesting he doesn't feel an age barrier (I am making a point of not actively using this as an excuse, especially out loud) talking to them. Anyway, bed, as I say.