Waterfall & Hellish Hike with New Friends

Loic, Stefanie, and Suzanne decided to stick around for another night and so did I. We took a taxi to the Waterfall because we decided to do a hike that some people mentioned to the crater where you can see the lake. The waterfall was just beautiful, got some great photos. We went over to the swimming area and Loic of course just got right in while the three of us girls were just thinking of wetting our legs. Well, I couldn´t resist the water so I also got in and did some swimming. We saw, believe it or not, some blue sky and sun. INCREDIBLE!

So, the hike to the crater started out with a false start because it seemed like we went the wrong way (sorry guys, I think the restart was mostly my fault). We went back to the desk at the waterfall and they described it better, turns out we were on the right path. UGH! The path was not like anything we might find in the U.S., okay well maybe we would but you would know in advance that it wasn´t an easy trail to follow. A few slightly wrong turns trying to stay on the path and then...let´s just say that it took us about 2 1-2 hours to get up. Well, it took Loic a bit less because he practically ran up the difficult path. I didn´t know ski instructors have such great hiking skills. We were so exhausted and once we lost Loic because we were much slower then him, we wanted to give up a few times. It truly felt like there was going to be no end and we were hungry, sweaty and tired. Loic ended up coming back to find us and turns out the lake view from the top was not as exceptional as we hoped. In fact, we think it was water we saw through the trees but who knows for sure. Luckily, the girls kept me going when I just felt like crap and then on the way down it seemed a bit easier. Maybe took us two hours instead.

Loic said later that he was pretty worried about us getting back down, of course he had to take some beautiful photos of us at the top though (please don´t share them Loic!). Let´s just say we were happy to have completed the journey and felt like we must have built our character some more. We were starving but first stop was back to Gringo Pete´s to clean ourselves up. Believe me it was necessary. Our treat was a dinner out in town and it tasted incredible. I feel lucky to have met some wonderful people to share my time in here in La Fortuna. Early to bed for us exhausted people.

The next day (Sunday) we decided to go to the swimming hole and along the way we stopped in town and I tried to make a phone call to reconfirm my flight with TACA airlines Tuesday morning. UGH! The frustration of trying to figure out the phone card and then no one answering the number made me want to scream. My new friends were very patient waiting for me and Loic tried to help but still no answer. Ah well, time to leave that and just hope my flight is okay when I arrive.

At the swimming hole there were mostly Tico´s (Costa Ricans) and it turned out to be a bit sunny again. On the way there Loic found a local baseball training game to watch for a bit, of course he was talking with the locals along with Stefanie. So the non-Spanish speakers went along to the swimming hole but we all caught up. The girls found some ROCK loung chairs to cool off and then Loic went to try the rope swing. The locals were crazy, doing twists and dives off the rope. Loic made lots of friends by taking little movies on his digital camera to show the guys.

The day was relaxing and fun, but of course it had to be with such company! We made a group meal and although it didn´t turn out exactly as we planned it was just fun to cook together and drink a bit of wine. I hope to try to meet them all again while I´m in France if possible. I was going to take one shuttle but have to take a different one because it was full, which means I pay a bit more money but it will take me directly to my hostel. I hope to meet Drew and his family again for my last night in Costa Rica. I decided against the public bus because I just didn´t want to get in so late and switch buses (I know that is lame but I promise to do the buses in other countries).

So, basically I had a wonderful time in La Fortuna mainly because of the wonderful friends I found.