La Fortuna. Nearing the end of our Adventures.

We are all starting to get that horrible slightly nauseating feeling you get when you know it's nearly time to say goodbye.  La Fortuna is the last stop before San Jose when 5 of us are leaving the group and the rest are traveling on to Panama. So, we thought we'd really go for it in La Fortuna! La Fortuna is a town across the lake from Monteverde which sits in the shadow of a still active Volcano. The town is thus named as the last time it exploded the lava flowed down the other side saving the town. There are many activities on offer including canyoning, hiking, Ziplinning, Paddle Boarding, horseback riding, hot springs and rafting. Most of us chose to do a full day of rafting on level 3-4 rapids. This gave us a free evening and 6 of us chose to go to the Hot Springs. This was quite a bizarre experience as it is a resort with man made pools, floating bars and a buffet restaurant-quite different to the other natural springs we had visited. It was filled with mainly young American Students and amorous Costa Rican couples hiding under 'waterfalls' and behind big boulders. It was nice to relax our aching muscles and we enjoyed ourselves none the less. Water temp ranged from 65-27 degrees and there was a Disco Pool so something for everyone!

We were picked up early for rafting and I was looking forward to getting the chance to hopefully clean my once white but now brown shoes. We drove for an hour and a half to get to the river with a quick stop to see some iguanas get fed breakfast. Had we seen those on Ometepe Island I might have believed there were still dinosaurs! It's quite an experience to see 15 iguana's fight over a rotten tomato.

On arrival at the river were greeted by the site of our rafting guides, sans shirts setting up the boats. We took a quick vote and decided that Costa Rican men are definitely the best looking in Central America. The day is looking up! We got kitted out, had a safety briefing and then headed off down the rapids!

Jeff our guide was great and steered us relatively safely through the rapids-quite often backwards. Only one of us fell out and that was Ernesto and I'm pretty sure it was on purpose! I was left up the front after Jeff noticed the strength in my paddling arms.....I was just really upset that yet again I was in a helmet. Safety before vanity Shuggie!! We have a hilarious CD of photos were I look like I'm doing a poo in half of them due to the effort I had to put into paddling after we got stuck on a couple of rocks in the rapids! I look forward to sharing those with you all..... We stopped for a fruit break and got the opportunity to jump off a cliff edge into the river. In an attempt to further impress Jeff I threw myself off only to realise at the last minute I was still wearing my helmet. Which, unless he has a problem with his far sight was not going to impress anyone. Wasted oppurtunity Shuggie. Wasted.

Back on the river we went and we spent the next hour shrieking our way down to the lunch spot and the end of the rafting. A really fantastic day! Until.... I got home and realised I had taken their safety advise of no sunscreen on the back of your legs (to stop you slipping) a step further to no sunscreen on your legs at all and I found myself with a Category 3 sunburn (according to Mario). I basically could have provided enough electricity for a small Costs Rican town if you harnessed the radiant heat coming off the top of my thighs. It was also just the section from knees to mid thigh that was burnt plus my shoulders due to a failure to reapply. I was already looking forward to the weird tan line. The bottom of my legs were scratched raw and I took a photo to share but thought better if it as some of you might be eating dinner!

The heavens opened as we returned and the poor laundry lady was inundated with  dripping wet clothes and shoes to clean. An impromptu rum party was held while we waited for the rain to stop. It didn't. Neither did the rum party.

Next and last stop San Jose.