Taking the Jeep Boat Jeep to La Fortuna

After three nights in Monteverde, we were ready to leave Costa Rica for Nicaragua, which we were told is similar but much cheaper. Our friends, Brian, Vanessa, and Rob from Manitoba were leaving the same day as us (Thursday, May 1, 2014) to go to the Volcan Arenal - a volcano near La Fortuna, Costa Rica. Since this town was on the way to the Nicaraguan border, we decided to go to La Fortuna with them.

A real boat!

We signed up to take the Jeep Boat Jeep which went directly from Monteverde to La Fortuna. It was advertised as a ride in a Jeep to the south shore of Lake Arenal, then a boat ride across the lake, and finally another Jeep ride directly into La Fortuna. When the "Jeep" picked us up at the hostel, we were disappointed to find that it was not a Jeep, but rather a boring tourism van. It brought us to the lake where there was actually a boat!

Laguna de Arenal

We waited about half an hour before they finally let us on the boat. In that time, we saw some young Costa Rican boys who were probably only 8 years old fishing from the side of the lake. They had no rods, bit only spools of fishing line. They were also using pieces of apples as bait, which surprisingly was quite effective as they were able to pull in several large fish in the short time we were watching. Eventually, we were allowed on the boat which brought us across the lake. The scenery was quite beautiful travelling on this narrow lake with mountains on either side.


At the other side, we were again met with a tourism van and not a Jeep. I was glad there had actually been a boat so the company's name was at least one third accurate!

I think he was saying something
about needing to poop. Or maybe
he was laying an egg. I'm not sure

Once we had settled in our hostel in La Fortuna, we signed up for a hike around the Arenal Volcano. Our guide was a very lively Costa Rican man who had a very vast knowledge of the volcano and was all too eager to act out various things he was talking about.


He started the hike by explaining some basic geology about what a volcano is and why they exist and then spent the majority of the hike talking about the various animals and plants which live near the volcano. The volcano was huge, and unfortunately it was overcast, so we were unable to see its peak.

The volcano has been active recently; however, its last eruption being in 2011, so we didn't get to see any hot lava. We were able to climb up a path of solidified lava at the base of the volcano. The path was littered with guavas (although I couldn't find any trees with guavas on them) and pieces of pumice which had been expelled from the volcano. We also saw some bombs and craters. Bombs are large chunks of volcanic rock which can fly quite a distance before landing and destroying things as large as houses of the bomb lands on it. These booms often create large craters in the ground when they land.

The volcanic ecosystem was quite interesting. The volcano expels rocks containing high concentrations of certain minerals, so the land around a volcano is surprisingly nourishing for many flora and fauna. There was a type of plant similar to a Venus fly trap which would close if you touched it. In terms of animals, all I saw were birds, most notably blue jays. Since the ecosystem is still very young, the main vegetation is short trees, bushes and moss. It was quite different from anything I have ever seen in Canada.

The beginning of a new ecosystem!

Arenal Volcano