July 16 - La Fortuna

After a quick breakfast at La Guardia Inn in Alajuela, we headed off to Walmart to buy supplies for the next few day's. Our navigating and driving skills are working fine today. We are headed to La Fortuna.

The road to La Fortuna is very windy and narrow but it appears it has been recently upgraded as there is new payment and the ditches are well trimmed. The max. speed is 60 kms. with only 40 or 50kms in some areas. It was a beautiful drive - for me. The curvy road didn't allow much time for Val to look around.  Very few places were available to pull over.

The roads were lined with thick green foliage with occasional splashes of colours from tropical flowers and plants with varigated leaves. Bird-of-paradise was growing along side the road as well as other flowers. We went through many small communities. Very few road or communities had signs. Having wifi in the car to use Google maps is a necessity.

We stopped at a Soda(small local restaurant) for a bit to eat. Once a English speaking person was found he explained the menu and helped us order. I either wasn't listening or he misunderstood. ..I ended up with a full meal; rice, beans, vegetables, and fried pork and onion. Val had a small corn tortilla with sour cream.

We arrived at LaFortuna at 1pm. Without to much difficulty we found our Airb&b apartment. It is even nicer than it showed on the site. Our host seems very kind and he also arranges tours for his guests. He briefed us on what we could do in the area.

We went walking around the community. It appears very safe.  Open front yards, no razor wire or tall stone fences with glass shards at the top which is apparent in many other countries. We saw a baby gecko or lizard just outside our apartment. (Geckos in your lodgings are suppose to be lucky) The community central park was small but had beautiful flowers and a fountain.

We had supper at Pollo de Familia and spent some time discussing our plans for the next few day's. Although it is the rainy season, it isn't as hot and humid as I expected. The temperature reached 27° today. It rained sporadically for late afternoon and into the evening but had quit before we turned in for the night. Our host said "the weather is unpredictable. But usually if it rains in the afternoon the next morning is rain free. If it rains in the morning, the late afternoon is clear." We have seen very few bugs as yet and no mosquitoes. I'm guessing this will change tomorrow as we walk in the rain forest.