What makes a tourist

1.17

Those of you who read about my bolivian bus adventures will be pleased to know i am much more the savvy traveler because of it. Today we watched three guys on our bus try to pull the same stunt - to "help" us with our bags and then pass them out the window to their friend. We were quite adament that we would keep them though, and as the men departed just before the bus left the station, a lady discovered that her cell phone was gone, and there was much shouting for her to try to chase the guys down and get it back.

we arrived at La Fortuna somewhat late in the afternoon, to a cloudy, sticky evening. La Fortuna was just a tiny before the 1968 eruption of Volcan Arenal, which drew first researchers and now tourists of all sorts from all over the world. It is Costa Rica's most active volcano, with what we understood to be quite frequent hissy fits of smoke and even lava. All around us, from the moment we got off the bus, were people hawking tours, with a very perfect and well rehearsed english. We asked around a bit, but the chances of seeing even the volcano (currently shrouded in clouds) let alone lava, seemed slim. So we played yet again the indulgent tourists and got lovely massages to relax our sight-seeing bones, and hoped for more lava friendly weather in the morning.

We are, how should i say ... frugal, travelers, but only to the point that we can spend our money doing the truly incredible things which are worthwhile. As such, we've been taking the local buses everywhere, rather than paying for the "tourist trams" which shuttle gringos from one hotel to the next, for a steep price. We thought we had the route up to Arenal park figured just right, and we'd get off at a split 8km away from the park, where taxis were always waiting to drive people up to the volcano. But where would our little travelers be if things actually went that smoothly?

We got off the bus and noted with gravity as the bus zoomed away, that there was not another vehicle in sight. We started down the road, hoping to get at least halfway to the park before time constraints neccessitated our return. Fortunately, a ways in we passed a couple taking pictures with the backdrop of the volcano. I offered to take a picture of them together, Mom commented on her UMass hat, and boom. Ride to the park, and traveling companions for the day. Zack and Nora had been in Costa Rica for a week or so, but were happy for the company and to hear our stories. We explored the volcano walks with them, and then not wanting to ask to muchof them, they dropped us off at the foot of their hotel, 4km out from where we needed to be in La Fortuna. Again, we set out, cheerful that we had cheated karma out of a 16km walk and exchanged it for a 4, when not long after a Tico on his way to Fortuna stopped and picked us up. =) Some days just work out perfectly.

We had checked out of our hotel, and because of our borrowed transports, arrived much sooned in la fortuna than we needed to be. We sat in the park for a while, but were both ready to be away from so much spoken english and paid activities, so we hopped on an earlier 3 o clock bus to Florencia. Neither one of us were hungry, but we stopped at a little pizzeria with not much going on, and made new friends with Jesus, who chatted with us for the rest of the afternoon, at first talking about all things Costa Rica, and then teaching us card games. Esteban came to pick us up at 7, though I think we both could have been quite content to stay.