eL CASTILLO
This time, I convinced Evan to travel in my style and we did not rent a car - which is a really big deal for him to do in a foreign country.
As soon as we left the airport, we took the shuttle to La Fortuna, the destination was El Castillo!
fun fact
More than 99 percent of the energy in Costa Rica is generated from renewable sources. The majority of this energy, 67.5 percent, comes from hydropower. Additionally, wind power generates 17 percent, geothermal sources make up 13.5 percent and biomass and solar panels comprise 0.84 percent. The remaining 1.16 percent is from backup plants.
After spending the night at our campsite, we were ready for our first adventure; to cross bridges, fly on a zipline and jump from waterfalls with the Sky Adventures team, located around Arenal Volcano.
There are many options at the site. (You can see the website by clicking the photo!) we chose the craziest one! While a large group was wandering around on the other side, there was only us and another couple from the USA in our group.
Our guides Juan and Charlie were wonderful. We decided to go to the next hiking spot together with Alyssa and Matt, whom we met on this adventure.
Arenal 1968, as its name, is a hiking spot created from the lava from the volcano that erupted in 1968.
There are 2 routes; Lava Flow or Forest. Lava Flow is a slightly longer loop trail, it’s 2.9 miles.
It is said that The explosion destroyed 3 towns and the entire western part of the forest and the volcano is still active, but there has never been an eruption like the one in 1968.
you can also see the country's largest butterfly sanctuary as another activity while you’re here.
In this sanctuary, volunteers usually work and you can also see frogs, different insect species and different tropical plants.
There is also a short hiking route inside, if you want to explore more.
so, here is a story about ants! this is the first time in my life that I have seen a group of ants cutting leaves and collecting them. yes, that’s their name; leaf cutter ants!
Leaf cutter ants live as colonies and each colony has their own queen. In these colonies, ants are divided into castes, based on their size or what they can perform. They cut these leaves NOT to eat; They cultivate a fungus to eat it later. This is a very important process, because if they don't calculate the air flow, fungus can kill the ants. And they feed the fungus with these leaves, but if they feed it too much, it will be toxic.
Isn't it crazy! Ants are really the hard workers!
LA FORTUNA
If you have not rented a car like us, La Fortuna will be the place where you will find transportation. If you want another attraction other than cafes and restaurants, LaFortuna Waterfall is a good option.
We went to Bogarin Trail hoping to see sloth. This is a place where sloths have their own habitat, so trail does not promise that you will see one. we walked the road twice and we were lucky at the 2nd time. Also, try to focus on top of the trees because that’s where they usually sleep.
rio celeste
After our Sloth adventure, we went to Rio Celeste by bus. The journey took 4-4.5 hours, but if you have your own vehicle, it is around 1.5-2 hours. Since our bus dropped us off on the main road, we hitchhiked to where our hostel was - we stayed in an area close to the park.
La Piña is a very sweet guesthouse, just off the farm. The owner is helpful and can solve anything you cannot solve, I will talk about this later. After walking around the hostel for a while, we talked about the night tour.
this is a tour to observe the nightlife around the hostel, it was just us and our guide; I don't remember the price right now, but it was extremely cheap. We also loved our guide very much. During the night tour, we came face to face with grasshoppers, large ants and mostly frogs; Even the poisonous ones.
The next day we were ready to go to Tenorio Volcano National Park. First, we had a nice breakfast at the hostel, and since we did not have a car, the owner of the hostel offered to take us to the park. We were planning to walk and hitchhike on the road, but he didn't want to leave us like that, and even told us to call before returning so that he could come and pick us up.
(Did you know that when I'm looking for places to stay while traveling, I pay particular attention to what people write about their hosts?)
Even though it was a rainy day, there was of course a queue in the park. The park, opened in April 1995, was established by UNESCO in 2007 as a part of the Biosphere Water and Peace Reserve. Swimming in the park, which has 5 different observation points, is unfortunately prohibited - even though the color of the water is extremely attractive.
why the sky-blue color is formed?
The particular color of rio celeste appears at the point known as Teñidero. the coloration is formed by the mixing of two not colored effluents: rio buenavista and quebrada agria.
the PH change (acidity) in the mixing point increases the particle size of a mineral present in rio buenavista. the minerals known as aluminosilicates (formed by aluminum, silicon and oxygen) increases its size from 184 nanometers to 570 nanometers.
a fraction of this mineral reaches the bottom of the river and it can be seen as a white sediment; whereas, the majority of the mineral remains suspended along the river.
the mineral that remains in suspension explains the sky-blue color of the river. suspended mineral particles scatter sunlight similarly as when the raindrops form a rainbow. in the rainbow, water drops act as prisms decomposing white light into the different colors. in rio celeste, the specific size of aluminosilicates particles causes that only the blush tones of white light are dispersed. therefore, we observe the characteristic color of the river. in other words, in rio celeste occurs an optical phenomenon called mie scattering in the field of physics.
after the park, we tried to find somewhere local to swim and we did! it was a stream near the hostel, very cold and surrounded by beautiful nature.
and it was time to back to san jose. we were planning to hitchhike but the hostel owner said that it was nearly impossible. so he helped us to find transportation.
although, i will talk about the city in a different post because this one is already really long :)
