Arrive, Sleep, Drive, Waterfall, Volcano, Helicopter!!!

Laura & Tom in the Helicopter

Of all the trips I have done over the last 10 years I have to say that this just might be one of the best days. The fact that the volcano was clear and we went up in a helicopter sure helped but also the 2am airport pick up and then off on the road by 9am let me know that the pace of the trip was going to be full and I picked the right trip to guide this holiday season.

The ride in the car was 3 hours of curvy mountain roads as we picked the cloud-forest route to drive through. It was the San Lorenzo Cloud-Forest. We arrived to La Fortuna around 11:30am where we got some lunch and unfortunately we did not take pictures of the food but I am almost sure that Kate will be before the end of the trip. Laura and Hunter were a little quiet in the car and during lunch. When we showed up to the waterfall hike I think it got them going. They climbed every single rock, boulder, and even noticed that at some point the rocks will fall on everyones head and it just worked out nice that it was  not yesterday.

Kate not seeing the Volcano we are about to hit

The volcano was clear almost all day and after the waterfall we went back to the Nayara Resort where Kate mentioned that she can see why people decide to stay in the rooms and rest but that was not enough for the Hintenlang's. They took a siesta of around 30 seconds and then we were off to find our next adventure. I had know idea what we were about to do was something I had never done and one of my best experiences of my life (No, I am not talking about eating Pozuelo cookies), I am talking about going up in a helicopter on clear day to see the volcano and Cerro Chato and the Arenal Lake that is on the other side of the volcano. Laura got lucky and was able to ride in the helicopter twice and even saw an amazing sunset.


After the helicopter ride we made our way to Don Rufino's where we were able to eat some steak. We even got David to try some ceviche during our meal which is raw fish cooked in lemon juice. After waiting 30 minutes for the check, seeing a line of over 20 people at the door, just your average meal in the no rush lifestyle of Latin America.