La Fortuna, Wednesday

Wed 8th 1829 In corridor at hotel. I feel OKish, everything is OK but it's been a mildly crappy day.

First off I woke up maybe 4ish feeling vaguely kinda weirdly sick. Almost certainly the beer although a bit surprising on such a modest (if not trivial) amount. Didn't exactly want to puke but my guts felt a bit odd and I went to toilet a lot (not diarrhea though). Semi-luckily Kurt was leaving at 520ish so I had the bathroom to myself after that. I kind of drowsed fitfully until getting up 8ish and puttering round packing etc.

Oh, and I felt quite achy after exertions yesterday, arms especially.

Because I dragged things out a bit too long I was harried and don't think I was rude but felt a bit "incompetent"/flustered trying to talk to reception to hand in laundry and ask about moving room and saying I needed to go get the EasyHop shuttle thing which I'd just booked to go to Ecological Park. Because of this I didn't get to ask them about bus to Nuevo Arenal and because I was changing rooms and bag didn't feel as secure (they moved it for me) I had my passport with me all day which made my hidden belt more uncomfortable than necessary.

I got on the EasyHop thing fine but it goes right round the houses. I also didn't get to go to the Eco Park as I ended up at Arenal Volcano Park after maybe an hour (?) of driving round and had a confusing conversation with driver in Spanish about it and I think he said he had me down for AVP, even though I know I didn't put that as I had a booking screenshot. I didn't argue or show him the screenshot as I figured fuck it, AVP would be OK (and he said it was the same) and I was also getting worried about getting the bus *back* as you have to book in advance but I had realised I'd have no reception out in the middle of nowhere (which feels a bit shit, it's not as if this is a huge country or Claro is a tiny company) and I asked the driver in person if he'd come back and pick me up and he said he would and we agreed 3pm (minutes part unspecified, to be fair) and since I was edgy about not getting a lift back I certainly didn't want to stir things up. (Also worth noting that had I somewhat sensibly booked the return trip before leaving hostel, it would have been from the Eco Park which I didn't actually get to and I'd have been worried the pickup would be at wrong place.)

1846 Had bit of break. Entry to national park at Arenal volcano is USD15 for foreigners *plus 13% VAT* (why not just quote this in the price) *and* you have to pay by card, they don't take cash (I deliberately pretended not to see the sign at first and offered cash). Luckily I had my Aqua card on me as I had it in case of need with the EasyHop website, but annoying.

I was feeling knackered and broadly crap - exertions from yesterday, maybe a bit dehydrated and/or otherwise under the weather after the weird pseudo-illness in the night, worried about bag getting lost in the hostel or my laundry being fucked up and also about having problems getting bus tomorrow morning. I was a whiny little bitch about not being able to figure out how to drop a map pin at the bus drop off point in OsmAnd app - although the app is truly incomprehensible, even worse than Google Maps app, which is saying something, I shouldn't have been so whiny about it.

It was also kind of hot and muggy and I was lugging my daypack full of fleece, shell jacket (filthy, but in a rubble sack to try to keep the dirt contained) and overtrousers as well as a smallish bottle of water (a "single use" bottle which has already been used about 10 times more than the "reusable" bottle I was forced to purchase to visit anti-plastic forest) and I just felt like shit. That's maybe a bit over-strong, but I wasn't in the best frame of mind and I felt physically uncomfortable. I tried to keep my attitude under control.

Trogged up to the main lookout point, but although it was sunny and too warm there was plenty of cloud about high up and after hanging around for about 10 mins on the offchance of a break showing the summit i headed back to check out the other trails. One was closed but I think I did the others (heliconia (?), the one up to the old lava flow and the one round to see a 30m tall cei-something tree). Of course the paths were intermittently muddy as fuck so I've got mud all up the back of the legs of the clean-on-yesterday trousers.

I couldn't get a GPS fix on the phone (because why would that work?) and towards the end of the ceibwhatsit trail I was getting jittery as I had no certainty I was heading in the right direction and the 3pm bus was getting closer, no signs saying "n km to go" or anything, albeit in the end I made it with 25ish mins to spare and (jumping ahead) it didn't actually turn up til about 1520. A couple of young women spoke to me while I was waiting, they'd got Uber up but had no way to book one to go back - they disappeared to check out things and I never saw them again, so presumably they got sorted. While on the trails a man+woman did say "hi" to me in a "we know you" way and I tried to do a similar "hi" back, *maybe* they are at this hostel but I haven't seriously interacted with most people  so hard to be sure.

It was kind of cool to see the volcano relatively close up and to see that tree and I did also see a few lizards and a toucan (no photo) and probably a wild turkey and of course the leaf cutter ants which are everywhere. But despite doing my best there was this faint/not so faint undercurrent of worry about bag/laundry/bus tomorrow combined with feeling knackered and really just wanting to sit down in peace and quiet and have some food. I did gorge on a packet of extra strong mints I had in my fleece pocket from back home while walking round, which did kind of help quite a lot in a strange way.

I was getting well worked up about how to get back if the bus didn't come - I had nothing in writing, I *hadn't* booked online, I was pretty much too far to walk (20kmish straight line, possibly double that by road) and it was getting at least close-ish to dark and despite telling myself I wouldn't panic until 1530 I was starting to flap by about 1515. It just felt like on top of everything else (especially checking out and moving on tomorrow) this was all too much. I can't entirely blame myself but I think my existing background worries made me less able to handle this. Realistic worst case was going into one of the numerous random tourist businesses nearby and asking them nicely for help, probably with the fallback option being they call me a cab and I pay something like USD40-100 for a mega cab ride, which would have sucked but not been the end of the world - I wasn't really in any serious danger of being actually stuck out there all night. As I said earlier, bus did turn up about 1525 and driver remembered me and apart from a brief, politely resolved query when we were nearly back into town about whether I had to pay (I said I'd paid $8 on line and he made a phone call and said it was OK) there was no problem, although we did go all round the houses of course. Still, it was a relief to be in the bus, even if my general background worry was still churning away and it wasn't a flood of relief kind of feeling.

Oh, also noticed this morning my hands have a lot of smallish cuts from yesterday's adventures.

Got back to hostel, asked about bus (it does go from terminal and there are three, but - jumping ahead - the NA hotel checkin opens at 11 so I will probably aim for the 8am one) and my laundry was in the dryer (I forgot about this natural step as I never use a dryer myself - I had asked for cold wash but I suspect the dryer may have shrunk the blue wool top, but can't be helped, and it may be fine) and I got my new room key. Went in and had a conversation with nice Swiss girl called Ana, although I felt a bit awkward. She was going on a night walk in 45 mins, so after bit of chat I said I was going out to eat and did. I figured I'd go back when she was out, take advantage to shower and re-pack my bag ready for tomorrow (jumping ahead, I changed my clothes after shower and will wear the same clothes tomorrow morning - my opinion varies but this is maybe better when the days are sweaty and the nights aren't, and in this specific case it helps as it means I have been able to pack all clean/dirty clothes for minimal fuss tonight/tomorrow morning), which I did.

I went to Doña Flor's for dinner of course, somehow the process was different today and I got a bit of choice from the pseudo-buffet and I also got a drink and yet was only charged 3500 (and I did mention the drink when I went to pay window) which is the menu price for the casado, so fuck knows as I seemed to be charged extra for drink on first day. But it was very good and very welcome and fairly substantial. There was a lovely black (presumably street) dog eyeing me soulfully while I ate but I am assuming it is *not* the done thing to feed these dogs from your plate. I left 200-300 (v approx as just dug some coins out) tip, no idea if I needed to or not although menu does say 10% service not included, but they kind of don't seem very fussed about enforcing this.

I had been vaguely fantasising during the day about getting a bag of Takis Fuego and/or a big carton of milk, but I really wasn't that hungry after the casado and since I don't really have much privacy here I decided to not indulge and will maybe treat myself tomorrow or something. (I am vaguely hoping there's a small shop or two near the hotel, which is a few km outside NA, but if not it does meals for USD10 and I may eat there once a day, or I may dogs permitting trog over to NA proper as something to do one day. I think I said this the other day.

I was thinking while feeling knackered at volcano park that I have actually been fairly "active" since leaving San Ramon, doing stuff almost every day. I think I will probably try to just take it easy at this hopefully kind of nice hotel in NA and not go off on major hikes or anything, although a round trip to NA proper is probably going to be 10kish and will constitute some moderate exercise. I have booked for three nights but if I like it I may extend by a day or two.

Had brief chat with Rick here in corridor after got back from dinner and collected laundry (trousers *still* have dirt in the "seams" , but maybe the next hand wash will fix this and the proper wash should have done some good at getting embedded dirt and just ordinary sweat out, and I *did* ask for cold wash - tho not clear if it would have been cold anyway - so can't really complain, they didn't lose any socks either, and I will find out if the blue wool top has shrunk when I try to wear it, can't do much about it now).

Vague plan is that I will go to bed 9ish, I didn't get huge amount of sleep last night and I want to be up earlyish and I am still feeling a bit knackered. It was nice of Ana to have that bit of a chat with me and is perhaps a bit of a model to follow if I'm sharing a room again in future, but rightly or wrongly I feel I've got my foot half out of the door and I don't really *want* to socialise right now. I am really quite looking forward to a few days of just doing not much and maybe hardly speaking to anyone. I kind of hope I'll catch her coming back into hostel as I sit here in corridor and we can exchange a few polite words about how her night walk went and I'll feel I've "socialised" without it being a huge deal.

New room is nominally same as the old one (double bed - which I have - with single bunk over, private bathroom) but it's nowhere near as nice (except it does have an actual aircon unit, but no idea if it works and don't think it's really necessary) - there are no sockets by the bed, the shower seems to dribble even when turned off (had stopped when I went back to refill water bottle just now tho) and when turned on ther water comes out mostly in a thickish "stream" down the middle rather than as jets and doesn't seem to have any heat at all (although it's warm enough that a "cold" shower was no major hardship, and it did feel good to have a shower after feeling so physically uncomfortable all day with the muggy heat).

Was slightly tempted to have a beer tonight but probably smart not to. Depending on price and how nice it is to sit there, I might Grecia-style have a few beers some/most/all nights when I'm at the NA hotel so definitelt seems a good idea to have at least one night off. As I said last night, in hindsight two of those big cans last night would probably have been the sweet spot, but it's not a huge deal.

Just to be clear, trousers got "ordinary hiking" kind of muddy around back of lower legs today, not the absolute plastering from yesterday's more extreme activity. I am still wearing them - they're not great but not disgusting and not at all uncomfortable, I think acceptable in this touristy backpackery vaguely outdoorsy kind of area. I will be able to deal with this with a hand wash (perhaps with a pre-rinse in the shower) as I did the other week.

Although I do intend to take things easy-ish, I will take advantage of (I think) private bathroom at hotel to give all my gear a good cleaning (eg I should probably wear the shell jacket into the shower for a minute or two) and let it all dry off properly.

Notwithstanding vague social worries re Ana, which aren't huge, I am moderately confident about the bus tomorrow now and everything else is mostly sorted, remaining packing tomorrow should be pretty simple and I am feeling vaguely tired but relaxed at having got stuff mostly sorted.

Did also shave after shower, I probably do need to buy a new disposable soon but at least I probably look like I tried to shave rather than a crappy feeble stubbly look.

Not that it matters but I don't think I did leave my disposable water bottle in the courtyward on the first night - I still seem to have all three of them.

2049 Sod it, I'm moving towards bed. I do feel vaguely tired so might as well.

2103 In bed. Feels vaguely anti-social but not sure that's reasonable, I should still go to bed on my own schedule just because I'm sharing a room. Won't be making a fuss if light turned on etc.

OK, Ana back, brief conversation, all fine. FWIW someone (prob her) had left room door open when I came back to it, which feels like minor risk of theft by randos, but not huge deal. She has a shuttle at 720 so not likely to be a problem me getting up at 7, checked it's fine to turn light on then etc.

Her night walk sounds quite good (she said the one she did in Monteverde was too commercial, this one just had her group of 3 and no other groups wandering round) but since I'm leaving tomorrow I am not going to think about trying to get details to do it myself. Mine was OK tho I can certainly see the "too commercial" angle.

She's going to bed shortly too so all should be pretty free of any social awkwardness. I'm sure if we were here together for a day or two it would feel slightly less weird, not that it feels enormously weird as is anyway, just a bit odd.

Will be vaguely sad to leave LF but not enormously. I could clearly do more stuff here but I've done most of what I wanted - and in a way today's fuckup taking me to national volcano park instead of Ecological Park was actually what I "wanted" to do when I was moaning about transport difficulties and need to do expensive tours when I first arrived, so it worked out quite well in a way, even if I wasn't utterly wowed by the park and didn't get lucky with weather wrt the summit view.