La Fortuna - Volcán Arenal

Today we went to La Fortuna. That's a small town on the foothill of the volcano Arenal. You are supposed to have a very good view from town to the volcano and at night with a bit of luck you could even see smoke and lava coming out of the crater... well that is the theory. During our stay there were clouds over the volcano all the time. We could hardly see the lower half of it =). However we still had a very nice stay there.

Central square in La Fortuna:

We visited the nearby waterfalls:

On our way back I spotted this toucan in a tree next to the road! I couldn't belief it! After all these months of hoping to see one, I finally saw a real, wild toucan. And a very beautiful one, too.

Lake of Arenal:

The next day we made a tour with a guide through the Arenal Observatory Reserve. There we saw another toucan, but I'm still proud that I spotted my first toucan by myself. I really like these birds!

In La Fortuna there are also different hot springs where you can take a nice hot bath a river that is heated up by the volcano. Normally the entrance fees for these luxury thermal baths are very high, but a nice taxi driver told us where the locals go... they go just into the hot springs on the other side of the road from one of the most expensive thermal baths. Of course we went there, too, and had a very nice bath for free =)
You can see a lot of vapor over the water, because it is so nice and warm.

This is a ginger plant (Ingwer). The part that you can eat are the roots.