Day 2: Liberia to La Fortuna

I woke up refreshed after a good night's sleep at the airport hotel, but S, who had shared a bed with a very animated H, didn't sleep well.  When we finally rolled out of bed, we grabbed a breakfast at the hotel buffet (standard western fare, plus Gallo Pinto, some small quesadillas, and tamarind juice) and packed our bags.  Our rental car met us at the hotel, and we began our journey into the jungle with a quick stop at a coffee shop (chai latte for S) and the local WalMart (towels).

Shortly south of Liberia, we stopped at Llanos de Cortez Waterfalls for a real treat.  We paid a small entrance fee and then drove about 1km to get to a small parking lot.  From, we hiked down a 100m trail (pretty steep - it was all steps) until we got to a small sandy beach in front of a beautiful waterfall.  There were lots of folks swimming and sunbathing, and H and had fun swimming almost to the place where the water would crash on our heads.  There was a local lifeguard who blew his whistle if you got too close to the falls or climbed on rocks you weren't supposed to.  

In a rocky overhang we also saw some sleeping bats!

We dried our feet and got back in the car for the three-hour drive to La Fortuna, on the SE corner of Lake Arenal.  Along the way we stopped for lunch at a place with a delicious mango smoothie and some of the best tortillas I've ever tasted:

At one point, all the traffic on the road came to a standstill when about a dozen coatis decided that they had the right of way.

 

We eventually made it to our bungalow at Lomas de Volcan, a lovely place deep in the jungle.  Our bungalow has a back porch that looks out at the volcano!

H and I took a quick swim (her third swim in less than 24 hours!) before cleaning up for dinner.  After dinner, we took night hike with a local naturalist through the jungle on an old cacao plantation.  He was great at finding all sorts of animals, including lots of insects, spiders, and other creepy crawlies.

But the stars of the night were definitely the frogs!  We saw 11 species of frogs and 1 species of toad.  We saw frogs in all cycles of life, from eggs to tagpoles to polywogs to mature frogs to mating frogs.  What a treat!  Our guide was amazing at knowing how to spot them.

After the hike, we went back to the resort to finish unpacking and settle in.  S has her own bed tonight, so hopefully she'll wake up refreshed.  I'm bunking with H.