Pura Vida Part 2

After our full days of adventure, fun and exploring Monteverde, we hopped on a bus, then a boat, then another bus-to finally arrive in La Fortuna.

La Fortuna is known for the large, active volcano called Arenal. There are plenty of adventure tourism activities to keep people busy for days. However, we had already zip lined, walked through the cloud forests, and rappelled waterfalls in Monteverde. We were actually pretty tired and beat up a bit and it was only day 3.

We opted for an easy volcano hike combined with soaking in the hot springs. The volcano was great, but the hot springs were one of the highlights of our trip. We had paid for a package tour, and it included entrance to one of the nicest resorts with over 25 hot spring pools, complete with swim up bars, waterfalls, and lounge seats.  The next day, we trekked to an incredible waterfall and swam a bit.

Volcan Arenal

Hot springs at Bali Resort

La Fortuna waterfall

After all of our active and exciting activities in Monteverde and La Fortuna, we were ready to relax on Costa Rica's amazing beaches.

We had originally planned on being in a large beach town called Jaco. However after spending one night and a day in Jaco, we weren't thrilled with the atmosphere and vibe there. It was a large town on the coast, filled mostly with ex-pat surfers. Not exactly our scene.

So it was off to Manuel Antonio, a short hour long bus ride south of Jaco. Best. Decision. Ever.

Our hostel in Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio hit almost every mark on our list. It was very small and really just consisted of several hostels, shops and restaurants sprinkled along the stretch of road that followed the coast. We stayed in a little hostel with a great happy hour and an even better view.

We went to Manuel Antonio Nature Reserve, and it was one of the best days of our trip.  Manuel Antonio is a unique environment where the park is on the Pacific Coast and has several beautiful beaches along the edge of the park. However it also bumps right up into a warm, tropical area which feels like a jungle complete with a large tree canopy, active wildlife and long, hilly hikes through the tree cover.

Views for days at Manuel Antonio

We did our own tour of Manuel Antonio and hiked every foot of that park. We loved every minute of our self-guided exploration of this incredible place. We saw sloths, large lizards, numerous birds and tons of monkeys hanging out among the trees. We climbed hundreds of stairs to reach a summit view overlooking the ocean. We discovered 5 or 6 beaches along our walks.

We even reach a beach called Puerto Escondido, which is only accessible at low tide by climbing down on a ladder and over rocks. We ended the long morning of hiking at one of the quiet beaches. We loved this place so much that we came back to the public section of beach the next day and soaked up more sun, sand and waves before heading back to San Jose.

Puerto Escondido.

For only being in Costa Rica for 7 days, we accomplished a lot. But we know we only scratched the surface of all that this amazing place had to offer.

By the end of this huge journey, I was pretty exhausted. I had never traveled this much in such a short amount of time. In less than a 2 week period, I had been in 2 countries, 7 cities and 7 different hostels. This was on top of the previous 3 weeks that I had just done in Guatemala.

My stuff smelled, my backpack was tired of being tossed around, and my legs ached from all the hiking we had done.  I had seen and experienced a lot in a month's time. 

But like all good things, my trip had come to an end. Chicago and its beautiful people were calling me home, and I was ready to be back.