La Fortuna, Tuesday

1752 Relaxing in hostel corridor with a 710ml can (!) of Imperial Original (4.5%, 1500 at shop round corner - not too bad). Feel I've earned it, may pop out for another later.

Got up about 0730 and did sit in kitchen for coffee, didn't feel too awkward and though not huge chat until Kurt turned up and spoke to me and he then chatted to a Dutch girl across the table which opened things up. But I didn't feel too awkward as I say and I didn't hide away so kudos.

Walked over to La Fortuna waterfall entrance, about 4km but possibly more by actual roads, took me about 1.5 hours, think got there about 1030 but photo timestamps would be definitive. No real problems and only slightly edgy on the walk, the odd dog or two but all very non-territorial and the route was liberally dotted with tourist businesses (mainly hotels) of one stripe or another so I felt help wouldn't be too far away if I needed it.

As I think both Kurt and hostel receptionist had told me yesterday, rather than go into waterfall reception I walked up to Arenal Waterfall Lodge where there was a booth and I paid USD15 for a wristband allowing me access to the private hiking paths. I did this in Spanish and on the whole I felt fluid but I did get mildly contradictory signals about whether the bit where their private land ended and the national park land nearer Cerro Chatto started was off-limits or not - I thought the guy said it was at my own risk at first, then later when I asked he said it wasn't allowed (but I actually asked if it was illegal and maybe he said "no se puede" or maybe he said "no, se puede" ).

Private hiking trail not super well groomed (but that's kind of fine, it feels like a proper hike) and rather muddy in places. I had been feeling a bit muggy (23C IIRC but probably quite humid) on walk up but there was a very welcome bit of a breeze on parts of the trail.

1803 Bit of a break, continue. Oh. I saw a big bird (*maybe* a wild turkey) on a rubbish bin on walk over to entrance from town. And if I forgot to mention it before, I quite regularly (including IIRC back in Sarchi) see big birds soaring around which I will call condors but obviously have no idea what they really are.

So I hiked up to the sign saying it was the end of the observatory trail and there was a bit of barbed wire across the path but it had been cut. Kurt had told me you couldn't go up but I wasn't entirely clear what the guy at the desk had told me. It was still pretty early (maybe 1130ish - but I took a photo of the sign and photo timestamp obviously definitive) and I stood there a bit resting and dithering. I thought I heard voices on the trail up above but wasn't sure if I'd imagined it. After a few minutes a French guy (followed shortly after by a woman and maybe another bloke, memory fails me) came down and he spoke English and told me it was about 2 hours, just maybe 1.5 hours, to the top and it was really muddy (they were all pretty mucky) and there was no real view but it was nice. Oh, forgot to say that it started to rain heavilyish while I was still going up the private trail, so I put my shell jacket on (but not the waterproof over-trousers, though I had them with me) and wore it from then until I got back to hostel.

So I decided fuck it, I'd go up. It seemed like a bit of a challenge. On the map it looked like no distance at all but it was really steep and basically you were scrambling up a narrow path/gully almost all the time. There were sort of mini foot-sized steps (I have no idea whether someone had cut these at some point or it was semi-natural) and it was raining and water was running down and in a couple of places my foot went in up to the ankle in mud/water. My trousers and shoes were already a bit muddy from the private trail but this was another level.

I kept wondering if I should turn back, it felt kind of sketchy (especially being on my own) and I couldn't get a damn GPS fix on the G5 so I was never sure if I was near the top or not.

But other people kept coming down every 30 mins-ish and I'd chat to them and ask how far it was and it all added up to an idea that I wasn't heading solo into some horrifically dangerous area where I'd never be found if I had an accident, so that encouraged me to keep going. Some of them were just wearing shoes/shorts/T-shirt and they looked muddy but way cleaner than I did - obviously I had no idea what to expect, and there was a bit of rockiness to the terrain which could have scraped up bare legs, but although it was raining it wasn't cold and I think they were maybe dressed more appropriately than I was as obviously skin kind of wipes clean (and the rain would probably have had some washing effect) whereas fabric doesn't. They didn't appear to have blatant red bloody-ish scrapes on their legs anyway.

To jump ahead, it's kind of lucky I was wearing my "less valuable" and probably more hardwearing shell jacket over my thinnish "plastic fibre" long-sleeved T-shirt as it will have protected it from abrasion, and it only got muddy on the front where I had the jacket open. Fleece was with me but in my bag all the time BTW. Shell jacket sleeve did get caught on stubby branches on way down but I think I was careful enough this never resulted in a serious tug that might have torn it.

Phone GPS continued to be useless (and there was just enough rain and my hands were muddy from supporting myself in various places that I was slightly worried about knackering it) but I kept seeing enough people coming down that I took heart and kept on slogging up. It was kind of fun if a bit nervy, except for one or two sharp turns where you could have gone over a small "cliff" which might have resulted in a few metres drop, the risks were more of twisting an ankle, falling, tripping as you navigated some of the steps etc. It was kind of scrambling, in some places I had to kind of pull myself up steps about waist-ish high by grabbing onto branches and/or using nearby foot-sized ledges carefully. If I'd fallen I would have fallen a negligible distance but in places the gully was body width and at the ground only about wide enough for one foot and there were a lot of rocks and roots about and it would have been possible to catch yourself a nasty blow and/or get an ankle/foot tangled in a root and twist/break something, I think.

1821 I'd been told (by original French guy?) that you got to the top then there was a downhill bit to the lake. I got to the top and found a couple (non-native English speakers I think, but no idea of nationality) there. I think I did finally get a GPS fix there and it looked a shortish distance to lake so I thought I'd push on, though I was a bit edgy about going down and having to come back up - for all this was open air, I was mindful of the Bolivia mine experience. It *wasn't* far to the lake, but it was pretty steep albeit broadly similar to the terrain I'd just come up - I was a tiny bit worried about not being able to climb back up, but it seemed borderline OK and I really didn't want to give up.

Got to the lake edge and there was a tiny patch of land ther with maybe 7ish people there. One woman had gone knee deep in the water, I struggled to get near the edge a bit as so small and it felt vaguely un-sociable there despite the fact we'd presumably all scrambled our way there at great personal cost, maybe just my shyness-ish thing. Seemed to be two parties apart from lonely little me, some native Spanish speakers who may or may not have been Costa Rican (about 3-4 of them), and a couple of English guys speaking English to a Costa Rican (I assume) guy who presumably knew what he was about and was wearing wellies.

Visibility was probably 5-10m ish, there was a vague shadowy hint of the far side of the lake but nothing more. It was kind of weirdly cool actually, if slightly spoilt for me by the strange "no one said hello" atmosphere, standing on this tiny patch of ground next to this lake which disappeared in the mist hardly any distance away.

I did try to wash my hands off in the water (partly for genuine reasons, partly as a kind of "hell, I made it, I'm making physical contact with this damn lake" thing) but what with holding on to the ground nearby to avoid falling in (hard to describe but not really a complex physical situation) they remained decidedly gritty.

1828 Finished beer. May well go out and get one or even two more later; they're not that much more than a pint and with a gap etc hardly insane.

1908 Just had nice chat with 73yo Canadian called Rick - I initiated chat but it's odd as he seems super friendly - who is backpacking and staying in dorms and stuff. He did actually invite me to go to 4k CRC (ie cheap) thermal pools at Termalinas de Arenal tomorrow but I said (truthfully) I was planning to go to Ecological park. He said except for one experience where three German girls complained about his "old man smell" to the hostel manager he's been absolutely fine with the reactions from the younger travellers - I'd characterise it as they were "surprised but cool with him" at worst. (The "old man smell" incident happened about three weaks ago and he was open about it still rankling, despite it being a total one off. I can totally relate to that. I also hate myself for the phrasing of that last sentence. ;-) )

He also knew the owners of hostel I was in in Grecia very well, he had stayed there for months and they were friends now, apparently even pre-pandemic it/Grecia didn't have a lot of tourist trade and he also wondered a bit how they stayed in business, although apparently their restaurant doesn't do too badly with the locals.

So reverting back to today, I stayed about 5 mins at the lake and then came back, initially following up the Spanish speaking group in the hope they'd know what they were doing, but they seemed to choose an obviously bad route fairly early during the ascent and I overtook them without really trying or wanting to. A couple of points on the ascent back up from the lake shore I felt a little lacking in confidence and it did feel like eg my foot could have slipped and despite trying to maintain three points of contact etc I could have come a bit of a cropper. It was good to get back up to the top, and then as I kept telling myself as long as I was careful and took it a step at a time and just didn't make careless mistakes getting down was just a matter of time.

I was filthy by this point - a bit more scrambling over logs and half-sitting on muddy ledges to drop down under some control from my arms and so forth on the downhill. It wasn't exactly "bad" but I was kind of wishing I had a private room and thinking I'd end up dripping mud all over the shared room floor/shower and wondering if I'd be able to get laundry service (because as I said I was already half planning to extend a night and after all this exertion and figuring laundry would be cheaper here that at new hotel and with trousers being so muddy that although I *could* probably wash them by hand, they really would benefit from a machine wash - sadly today's trousers weren't the ones that already got muddy-but-not-this-muddy in Santa Elena) etc.

There was a cool waterfall (probably not the La Fortuna one) on the way down. I realised my camera had a sort of diagonal stripe of condensation where the lens cover has a similar line so had to take it on phone. (Jumping ahead, bit worried grit got into lens under cover and the lens cover scraped against it a bit when back in room - I took battery out and have left the lens open to dry, and will see if I can clean it gently/blow it out after. The lens already had a scratch or two which cause an annoying "bloom" on photos taken "into the sun" but it was mostly usable; I hope it's not going to be damaged but if it was it can't be helped etc and at least the camera was already old, albeit hard to replace as they don't make £100-150 compact cameras any more, and the rear LCD screen also has some permanent "noise" at top/bottom etc.) I was paying attention but also feeling knackered - FWIW I did seem to overtake several people, including I think the couple I met at the top who maybe never actually made it down to the beach - and I knew I also had the 4km+ walk back into town and was slogging along a bit. I fell over a couple of times back on the proper hike with the waterfall, and also just once on the "gully" descent down from the lake.

It was only on the way down from the lake that I noticed people coming up wearing the same bracelet as me which said "NO xxxx" (where xxxx is the name of the lake/hill it's at the top of, which I won't mention here just in case) but hey, it's fine.

Trogged back into town, deliberately walked through the odd puddle at side of road as shoes/socks already soaked and I figured it might wash the outer mud off shoes a bit. It was a bit of a slog but not terrible and on the whole I'm fairly pleased I managed this arguably faster than some of these other people and without any major problems - I did feel a bit out of breath (not in a medically worrying kind of way) at times on the way up and had the odd break, but nothing major, and I didn't stop at all on the way down.

I dropped shell jacket in room, went to desk and extended for a night (8.5k, whisker under USD15) and almost simultaneously shifted (no change in price) my Nuevo Arenal booking forward one night two. I also asked about laundry, only $3-something a kilo and it will take a few hours but it was too late tonight so I can give it them tomorrow morning and it will be ready by afternoon (which is kind of good as if trousers can dry out they'll be cheaper to wash :-) ) I then went and took all my clothes off in the shower and shoved them into a carrier bag and had a very long shower, including (they were already soaked) washing my shoes off - my shoes are still squelching a bit now and have soaked my socks, but I only have the one pair and it is clean water in them now and the socks will help soak it up and it isn't cold or anything.

I do have to change my room tomorrow but since I probably won't be getting shuttle til gone 10 to Ecologic park that's probably OK, fingers crossed.

I then went out, went to bus station in hope (unfulfilled) I could see something about bus to Tilaran/Nuevo Arenal, had very satisfying casado de (apparently right preposition, the menu uses it) bistec encebollado at Doña Flor (didn't get drink I ordered, but also didn't pay for it - so 3800+400 tip, not entirely sure if I need to tip but it's fine) and then got the big can of beer and came back here and started writing this. Oh, I also went to very nearby cash machine (red branding, can't remember more) Kurt said had dollars and it did but the fee was $4.95 so I thought fuck that - I was (somewhat arbitrarily, and could maybe have done more) withdrawing $200 and 2.5% felt shit and probably (just gut feel) more of a rip off than paying for USD-priced things in colones and the businesses involved using a crappy exchange rate. I'd *like* some more dollars but I think I'll just wait until I find a BCR/Banco Nacional machine which offers them. I was using Barclaycard Rewards for this, BTW. I did also try Banco Popular which IIRC didn't work at all yesterday with Starling, but they only offered colones (should I say "colons" in English? feels wrong tho) nd I'm fine for those so I cancelled and don't know if there would have been a fee or not.

I think that's about it, can always add more to this later.

FWIW I took Aqua card out with me today in case I needed it to book the Easy-whatsit shuttle back from La Fortuna waterfall, but I didn't. I wasn't *that* knackered, I didn't want to be faffing with it or hanging around for hours, it felt like more of a "complete" adventure to do the whole thing walking, of course there was a modest saving (though only about $8) and I also wondered if I was too dirty to be getting into a bus.

Rick told me it's common in bars in CR for beer to be served in a glass with ice, though he usually asks for it without. (Think I only had that in London once, after helping G move during a heatwave and the pub's draught beer chiller wasn't working.) I haven't been in a proper bar yet, not that that's a major problem, just saying.

1939 Just been to drop beer can in kitchen recyling bin, loads of people chatting round table but I'm not cooking/eating here so not too surprising I'm "out" of that. On the whole feeling a bit more at home/more comfortable with the vaguely communal aspects of things - I don't necessarily expect to be bosom buddies with anyone, it's just galling to feel like an utter outsider and I think I'm breaking down that aspect of things (eg by "putting myself in evidence" at breakfast) and hopefully I will continue to get better at that.

I do have a vague feeling - partly on cost saving grounds, partly on social grounds (not that staying in a private room is necessarily a big impediment to meeting people in communal areas, though no denying Kurt has been a big help here even if perhaps wouldn't have been so necessary if I hadn't semi-hidden away eg that first time) - I might try to approximately alternate dorms and private rooms for a bit. The private rooms will also give me the chance to do laundry. It's not necessarily a bad thing to spring for a "proper" machine wash once in a while, of course - my main worry here is not cost but risk of stuff getting lost. Still, socks are the main thing at risk of getting lost and given I have ultra-common size 9 feet it should be fairly easy to buy half decent replacements here - whereas losing underwear or trousers might well be a different kettle of fish. (Then again, the locals are more my kind of height, I think. But they probably aren't wearing non-cotton trousers with zips on the pockets either.)

I think I might pop out to that "off licence" about 2030 and get a couple more big cans. It's hardly late and I don't think this is an area it's terribly risky to be out after dark - TBH within reason I'm feeling reasonably confident about CR towns in this regard, it's more that so far I have had little reason (though there was the night visit to ranario) to be out after dark. Incidentally the slightly raucous talk from kitchen does have a rather German (language) flavour.

Incidentally what made me talk to Rick was having/persuading one of the cats here to come up on my knee for a bit and I think he heard me talking to it in (probably bad) Spanish and looked round and that led me to say hello to him.

I will say that on walk/scramble up to lake I did have vague "tourist gone missing/found dead" thoughts. These mostly subsided once I realised there were so many other people on that route - I didn't see *anyone* else on the "official" private hike route, even though obviously these other people on the up/down bit to lake must have been on this hike too - I guess they all get kind of "bunched up" on there.

2207 Nice chat with Kurt, Rick joined us briefly. There is indeed a big influx of Germans today according to Kurt, I'm having my third large can and I did have a quick wander round but I couldn't hear anyone speaking English so I can have this beer solo without feeling I haven't tried.

2220 Not pissed, but feeling this third beer. I don't blame myself given today does feel like I exerted myself physically and to a lesser extent socially, but arguably the third wasn't necessary. It's "medically" fine, I haven't had a drink for a while and I will almost certainly resist any temptation tomorrow - borderline possible I will have a few overpriced bottles at the Nuevo Arenal hotel bar depending on how nice the view is/how cold it is/whether there are other guests, but nothing insane unless it's very alcoholically social and if so I think that's a worthwhile tradeoff. As I say, I kind of feel I earned these beers today, even if in hindsight two big cans would be enough, and it does also feel like getting a takeaway beer (or two or three) when staying in a hostel without a bar is a "tool" that's been added to my range of options.

Will make an effort to sit at kitchen table again for breakfast, probably be German-fest based on tonight but I will at least try, and if someone *does* want to make an effort (which I do appreciate) to speak English then it feels a little less intrusive than me trying to squeeze my way into a conversation tonight. I don't think I'm "obviously drunk" or anything but the fact I've had a couple of beers and on my third does also make me feel a tiny bit "uninhibited but at the same time aware I might come across badly" tonight.

There seem to be two similar looking cats chasing each other round (*not* double vision!) so there are probably two cats here, I might guess related (but they both seem smallish and vaguely oldish-kittenish, maybe siblings), as well as the smallish white woolly dog (probably has no staying power, per Wodehouse :-) ) which wears a superficially rather gratuitous jumper (it is not cold, and it isn't a dog with no fur) but is also quite nice.

As I probably said, the odd dog on walk earlier (not on trails, on walk between town and La Fortuna waterfall entrance) but no trouble. On way back a couple of dogs kind of walked amiably with me for a few seconds (kudos to myself for not really feeling much tension as they came over, not barking at all) and had I not been (probably excessively) paranoid about rabies after talking to that English guy last morning in Santa Elena I might have stroked them. Ditto a couple of smallish black puppyish dogs on main road back into Santa Elena which came and wandered near me unthreateningly but which I didn't touch. And there was also a rather nice mid-sized probably street dog (which at least didn't look in bad condition) eyeing me soulfully as I ate at the street counter (window seat, but no glass) at Doña Flor's. TBH while that English guy had a point I should probably stroke some of these dogs but accept in the unlikely event they nip me I will have to get rabies shots.

There's a French couple (not *necessarily* "a couple" , but you know, a bloke and a woman, speaking French to each other and I certainly don't want to intrude even if they're just compatriots) in the corridor with me but other than that it's German tastic. The slightly smug (unfair, but my perception) youngish US/English guys must be away, there is also a Chilean young guy who speaks fair English staying here (or was) but he's also not here. Not spoken to any of those guys but I've overheard stuff etc.

I am not saying I won't do any hiking/walking if opportunity occurs round Nuevo Arenal, but if I have a few fairly slack days and watch a lot of YT and putter round the hotel grounds that's fine. I've been fairly energetic here in La Fortuna, and probably will be tomorrow. Also - gah, forgotten what I was going to say.

It isn't what I was going to say and I think I'm repeating myself, but I don't think what works out at about 3.5 pints of beer for 4500 is excessive financially or "medically" . If I must, set if off against the calorie burn of all the walking today and the (genuinely not financially motivated, in the main) saving of $8 (would that be for a return or just a single) of not getting the EasyHop (think that's right) shuttle.

It does vaguely feel like I'm filling out the gaps/correcting the flaws in my "social traveller toolkit" . Not that I'm on the verge of being great, but that's hardly necessary - it just feels like I'm doing OK.

I think it's USD10 a meal at Nuevo Arenal (but actually 5km outside) hotel. Gut feeling is that if it's decent and substantial I will have my one meal a day (my broad plan) there, if it's not I will look into walking into NA to eat and/or be supplementing my diet with (hopefully cheap) fruit/milk.

Feeling fairly comfortable with the idea of not going to Nicaragua. Fuck them and their stupid rules (as I probably said, only a handful of countries - albeit sadly concentrated in Latin America - are still imposing such rules, so even modulo politics I think it's fair to say that), plus - and *maybe* this is what I forgot I was going to say earlier - when you have just the very mild "inside scoop" I've had here, CR isn't necessarily that expensive. La Fortuna appeared a financial nightmare with its USD40+ tours and pricey restaurants, but I've had decent (very much the sort of thing I want to be doing) experiences) today and probably tomorrow for USD15ish thanks to speaking to people (Kurt mostly, in this case) at hostel and realising that the super-heavily promoted expensive options are not all or even the best (given my tastes) options even in such a touristy place.

I was going to say something else but it's momentarily disappeared.

2316 Bed.