Cerro Chato
I had a rough sleep last night because a new girl in our room was snoring so I was not a happy camper when Kaya woke me up at 6:45 am today.
We went to the soda beside our hostel for breakfast, collected ourselves and the drove up to the La Fortuna Waterfall parking lot. The hike is technically illegal so you have to pay ($12 USD) a nearby resort employee at a booth to get to the trailhead. He had braces and a face tat.. what a combo!
He was really nice and let us know that it shouldn’t rain until the afternoon (the hike is closed because the trail is not currently maintained so if there is heavy rain it can be dangerous but the forecast was on our side).
We got about 15 minutes into the hike and I started to really stress, I was sweating harder than I ever had and the heat felt like it was not going to be bearable for 2.5 hours. I kinda panicked and teared up because I thought I better turn back (I was worried I was going to slow down the group) but the gang was super supportive and made me feel better. Hearing that we have all day and can take breaks made me chill, and they let me go first so I wasn’t feeling like I was going to fall behind.
Once I got out of my own head and we got under the canopy cover it was actually an awesome hike! Super steep and you used your arms a lot to hoist yourself up with the roots and branches.
We saw trails of ants carrying leaves (here’s a really cool article on these ants), humming birds, lizards, crazy palms, and lots of mushrooms. When we got higher up there were visible clouds of mist, I felt like to broccoli at the grocery store getting misted like that.
At the top was a lake that was formed 3 million years ago from the crater of the Cerro Volcano! It was so refreshing after the hike. We made fantastic time, reaching the lake in just an hour and a half.
We had some granola bars and bananas, took a swim, sunscreen up and then head back. I MUCH preferred the way down though it did eat it pretty hard at one point, it was so muddy. By the end of the way down my knee was bleeding and I had turned my white turned completely brown.
We decided to take the long way back that passes a mini waterfall. It really feels like you are in National Geographic here, like I have seen forests like this on TV growing up but its mind blowing to realize it is a real place!
Back at the parking lot we paid ($17 USD) to go see the La Fortuna Waterfall. Both of the watering holes we have been to here have slightly reminded me of BC but with different foliage.
I tried to swim at the waterfall but it was pretty powerful that it would push me right back. The river beside had fish and the walk up to the car we spotted Monkeys! They had little babies on their backs… still no sloths but we are keeping our eyes peeled.
We got fresh roadside coconuts on the drive home and I tried my first fresh coconut water. I had tried it once before at Ecom Square because Christine heard I had never had it at all but fresh beat bottled by a landslide.
For dinner we went to a new Soda with the kindest lady <3, I had nachos. I haven’t had a vegetable in a while which is concerning but I am eating tons of fruit. She brought us rice pudding as a complimentary treat. We walked around the town of La Fortuna and realized it is much bigger than expected. Still small but we thought it was just the strip with hostels.
Tonight at the hostel there are some interesting characters to watch. There’s a big group of Canadians that are kinda douchey:
1 Influencer/ Twitch Streamer girl from Vancouver who has been streaming since dinner in the pool and wherever she goes
A few guys from Van/ Calgary (one who is wearing a Calgs Jersey, full jeans and cowboy boots
A couple from Halifax (the guy is wearing a cut off bright red Canada shirt)
… They requested to put on the Calgary Flames VS Dallas Stars game so ever across the world I can’t seem to dodge hockey bros. Haha, we are having fun anyways, the gang is playing cards and I am blogging… Okay you are all caught up!
