That’s the beginning of the trail It gets more interesting in the trees

I still say I’m not that impressed with La Fortuna, especially because I was trying to save money, and even hiking Cerro Chato didn’t really change my mind.

Hike is interesting but moderately difficult

Rebecca and I decided to go on a hike because we can usually go hiking for cheap. The Cerro Chato Hike was $2 per person for a taxi to get there (we shared it with a group), then $10 per person to take the trail. The $10 was not for any trail maintenance, but simply because someone can make some money off of hikers. When it’s raining, this is a muddy, messy trail! And guess what, it’s been raining.

At least we were able to share the taxi ride with Nick and two other girls from the hostel. They decided to wear sandals, I can’t imagine trying to hike like that. It started raining not long after we started. The mud and water started pouring down the trail. Eventually, they got tired of pulling their sandals out of the deep mud and went barefoot.

The lush green landscape was beautiful, I felt like I was in the Shire. Soon though, the open expanse gave way to deep, dark forest. The rain was coming down in torrents and at one point we tried to stop for a break, but it was too cold so we kept on going up.

Be in the Know: This hike is like doing stairs for a couple of hours. Nice workout, but only do it if you are in shape for it.

Arrived at the crater lake

On our way down the skies began to clear

At the top, we, unfortunately, found a sky of fog so we couldn’t see across the crater lake and the rain was still falling. Rebecca was the only one in the group to take a plunge into the cold lake waters.

Some great flowers along the way

What I thought was funny was the $75 dollar tour group that we said no to the day before was also at the top and were handed their snacks to eat in the cold and rain. They didn’t look very comfortable. Then they were heading on to the observatory.  I hope things got better for them. We headed down as clouds began to clear.

At the bottom of the hike, Nick and friends found themselves a taxi, but Rebecca and I decided to hoof it back to save money and we like getting to know a place by walking. It was actually a nice walk, all downhill and it gave my boots a chance to dry.

Tomorrow we head to our next stop. I’m looking forward to moving on to Puerto Viejo!

Want to see more:
Day 9 in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Day 11 in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

I’m Sonja Dewing. I’m an award winning creative writer, a published author of Toy of the Gods, an adventure in the Amazon. If you’d like a free copy of the prequel, Ire of the Gods, sign up for my email list and you’ll get it right away.