Day 2 in Costa Rica

Good morning… 

I’m realizing that I have 49 days of this amazing adventure to share and since I love writing and I love taking pictures… I figured maybe you wanna come along on this adventure… 

Maybe you also wanna go to Costa Rica and aren’t really sure where to go. 

Maybe you’ll be fortunate enough one day to have 49 days and you’ll follow along… 

Maybe you can add to our adventures or add little stops along your way for the next person.

Our day 2 was still in La Fortuna because well, we’re here for the week. 

Today was Hot Springs day. 

La Fortuna is most famously known for the Arenal volcano. 

A few facts about the Arenal volcano… For those who like this kind of thing… It is roughly 7,500 years old and it is thought to be dormant or extinct but in 1968 it violently erupted after being silent for 400 years. 

This explosion buried three villages and 87 people died. And following that explosion, it spewed out ash and lava daily until 2010.

So these hot springs are literally natural pools of water, and they are simply a result of the Arenal volcanic activity. 

The famous spot is called El Choyin, and it is just down the road from the Tabacon resort. 

On one side of the road there are some hotels that have access to the Hot Springs and probably an easier path to get down to them, but they are not free… Even if you aren’t a guest of the hotel, you pay a daily rate to go to these Hot Springs.

Tabacon Hot Springs day passes cost $115USD per person for a standard pass, and $184USD if you want to include lunch or dinner.

A new word in my vocabulary is budget so we were going to try the free ones on the opposite side of the road first.

Access to the Hot Springs on that side is 100% free, but there are local “parking attendants” who will run very quickly to your car as you’re parking and ask for around five dollars US to “watch your car”.

And by quickly, I mean you aren’t even done parking and there they are, smiling next to your window. 

The walk down was not that bad… But we truly had no idea what we were walking into and when we got down to the water, it was as if you were in some prehistoric Jurassic type forest. 

We put our stuff down and put on our water shoes, which you absolutely should have… And we made our way into the water which felt truly glorious.

Now I try to take pictures of a lot of things, but there are some moments where you just have to put the phone down and live in the moment and this was going to be one of those moments. 

We sunk down into that hot water and just laid back against the rocks. The sun was peeking through the trees overhead, and it was as if you had this monstrous canopy of trees that just surrounded you.

These hot springs are a very popular attraction if you go to La Fortuna… You absolutely need to experience this. Not only do you get the tourists, but you get all the locals who seem to have packed up an entire meal and had picnics set up, coolers filled with drinks and snacks, and kids splashing in the water.

We relaxed in the water for what seemed like hours and I remember laying there, just realizing what an amazing moment this was and what an amazing life Sase and I were creating together, and this was just the beginning of our adventures. 

After the hot springs we definitely needed to eat, so our goal was to find a “soda”. 

A soda is a small, family-owned, local restaurant. 

It is not a pop, like we would think :) 

It is where you go for traditional home-cooked Costa Rican meals. 

A typical meal in a soda is called a casado, where you get this massive plate featuring rice, beans, salad, fried plantains, and fish or meat.

We did not have to look hard for a soda as they are everywhere, and we wanted to experience our summer more like locals than tourists. And I will tell you that any time you can get the chance to eat in a soda, do it! 

The meals are SO good!

I had the fish, Sase had beef… DELICIOUS!!!! 

I think we paid around $6 USD for each meal… you can’t eat anywhere else for that price!

So now you have 2 more things to add to your list when you go to Costa Rica… the hot springs and a Soda.

Nowhere to go… nowhere to be…

Deanna