Arenal and La Fortuna

So I realize now, that I have not written about our weekend at Arenal. Javier and Braunier picked us up pretty early Saturday morning and we began our 4 hour journey to Arenal Volcano and the town of La Fortuna. We got to the town pretty early so were able to do a little sight seeing of the town and do some shopping. (I took a fabulous picture of the church with the volcano behind it...I will post it when I get home). We then went to lunch and trekked up part of the volcano where we got some of the most incredible pictures ever. [see my FB profile and cover pics] The hike was extremely steep and difficult as it was a new path that only opened recently.   That being said...it was worth the trip and the view is spectacular.

La Iglesia con Volcan Arenal

It has sparked a love of hiking in me [much to the surprise of my husband Chris!!]. It started to rain almost as soon as we got back in the van to head to the hotel. We had free time but were pretty much stuck in our rooms because of the storm.  It cleared up a little before dinner so we hit up the hot springs and then changed for dinner. We spent a relatively quiet night relaxing and then [I] got up for more time in the hot springs before packing up and heading out to see the La Fortuna Waterfall. We've seen many waterfalls since getting here but I will say that this one was amazing. You have to go down about 526 steps to get to the bottom where you can swim (we didn't), take pictures (of course!), and chill. I cannot even begin to describe what the view looked like but promise to post pics soon! <3 After climbing back up the steps we headed off to lunch and the 4 hour drive back to Monteverde. We got home about 6/630p and I pretty much headed straight to bed. This weekend was so incredibly relaxing. I felt at peace with the world when on the top of the look out point at Arenal and in the hot springs.  <3 Pura Vida is not just a saying here, it's a way of life!!