La Fortuna

Today in La Fortuna, the weather is humid and raining. I managed to sleep in until 7am and decided since it was not such a great day to visit the volcano I would check out the town. The moment I arrived in La Fortuna I felt at ease. It is very small, easy to get around, safe and very quaint and well taken care of...but it is also very touristy. In the center of town is a lovely church and across from it is a stunning public garden. It has two or three main streets about six or seven blocks long. Outside of this area the houses are more like shacks and along the main road are various kinds of hotels and resorts. I spent a good hour in the morning just looking at the different flowers in the public gardens and taking various pictures. I even came across the most beautiful green hummingbird that was a bit too quick for my camera to catch. Once I had my quota of pictures, I spent a good part of the morning checking out all the little shops and markets. There is lots of shopping that can be done here, but everything was a bit expensive. Throughout the entire day, there was a concert taking place right inside the public gardens, with lots of local music, young school kids and I even ran into some teenage boys practicing the guitar while sitting along the water fountain. This all created such a great vibe in the town. Later on in the evening when I was buying the most delicious chicken kabob from a street vendour, I found out the concert was a benefit for a man who had lost everything he owned in a fire, a block away from my hostel. How great to see the town come together like that to help out a neighbour. Since it was raining so hard in the evening, I decided to stick around the hostel. I met a couple from Alberta who were travelling for 3 weeks and who gave me some great suggestions for places to go and I also met a German woman who had been studying English in San Jose for three weeks and was spending the next three weeks touring around. I also decided to take the Arenal volcano hike, along with the hot springs as a tour the next day. After I finished booking my tour I had a great chat with one of the local guides about Costa Rica, their customs, Canada and I learned all about the Spanish language....too bad I can not speak it a bit better!! I even got to call home on a free international phone they had in the lobby. When does that ever happen????? I finally hit the sack around 11pm, right around the time five Americans studying in San Jose arrived and became my new roommates. Until tomorrow...hopefully without rain.