La Fortuna, Arenal

 The next stop on the Costa Rica tour was La Fortuna, the small town at the base of the famous Arenal Volcano. Arenal Volcano was spewing up lava on a regular basis until about 5 years ago which is why La Fortuna is such a big tourist attraction. People still hike up and around it though, but we opted out of this - we've been up a few volcanoes now and it was kinda raining most of the time we were there. Instead we were happy we got this one brief glimpse of the very top of the volcano. Apparently it doesn't happen very often. One of the staff members at our hostel went running around asking everyone if they'd seen the top of the volcano yet, so everyone piled out into the street to see the top for a fleeting moment.

Our first full day here we visited the Ecocentro Danus, a little wildlife reserve where we could add a few extra critters to our "Seen That" list. We walked about 3km in some light rain to make it there. This was easier than trying to figure out some transport.

There were flowers that I'd never seen before

I enjoyed the butterfly garden way more than I thought I was going to. We actually got to see some butterflies coming out of their cocoons! This was fascinating and terrifying. I don't know why but a lot of them seemed to be sick, they were just dropping out of their cocoons into puddles of their own liquid, jerking around until they died. I hope to one day see a healthy butterfly emerge from a cocoon.

This guy was struggling, a guide too him from the cupboard of cocoon (where they are all stored until they "hatch") and into the garden. When we came back to check on him he was gone, hopefully this means he eventually got his wings pumped up. 

Some of them got nice and personal

It was like watching a horror movie

Feeding time!

We enjoyed meeting some new birds

Even though I've seen heaps of squirrels now I still find them exciting.

On our second day we opted for a nice relaxing day after the big walk the day before. There are heaps of hot springs around La Fortuna thanks to Arenal Volcano. They range from ridiculously pricey resorts to free swimming holes. We took a middle option - $12 for an all day pass to a park with hot springs, cold pools and water slides. We ended up spending about 5 hours there, surprising ourselves.

On the way back from the hot springs we shared a taxi with a lady who had had 3 different tours cancelled on her due to the weather. This confirmed that we had made the right decision to sit in hot water all day. 

This sign was all over the park as a friendly reminder to not get carried away

Pura Vida