Costa Rica - La Fortuna and Arenal - Really? This is dry season?

I'm starting to become disillusioned with the phrase Cloud Forest. It sounds so lovely, doesn't it? And while it does produce some fabulous rain forest jungles, the practical side of living in a cloud has reared its damp drippy head. While clouds look all white and fluffy and marvelous in the sky, while you are literally in them, turns out they are grey, perma-mists that often erupt into downpours of rain. I thanked my lucky stars every day this week for packing a very waterproof coat. I also have converted my bunk bed into a drying rack for nearly all my clothes, which inevitably get damp or soaked if I wear them outside the room. Ticos (Costa Ricans) must be amphibious to live here year round.

Dear Les Miserables the Musical, you can keep your castle on a cloud. I bet its damp AND drafty. Definitely not all its cracked up to be. Regards, Me.

We left Monteverde and Santa Elena (where we really spent all of our time) early on Sunday morning to head up to La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano. We splurged on transportation, taking the $25 JeepBoatJeep (actually tour company name - don't be fooled by the name, the jeeps were colectivo vans) instead of the $5 bus for reasons of convenience and wishfully scenery. After an hour of a muddy unpaved road bumpy and crater-filled enough to make me perilously near carsick (and I don't get carsick), we arrived at the dock for the boat. Where we had to wait for almost an hour next to a closed restaurant with no bathrooms. In the pouring rain. Awesome. The boat ride itself would have been really pretty, had it been a clearer sunny day. Still nice to get out on the water though, the fresh air eased away the carsickness rather well.

I would normally now tell all the amusing and hilarious things that happened while we were in La Fortuna. However, since it has poured rain for 2 days straight, we have very efficiently put all the enforced hostel time to use accomplishing chores such as filling out a million insurance claims related to my chicken pox and trip interruption, printing off itineraries and planning the South America leg.

Rumour has it there's a famous large volcano in this town, which according to legend takes up half the view from our balcony. It's right behind that cloud there. So they say. I'm beginning to think they made up this alleged volcano; there's no way I can tell with clouds this thick.

Literally the most newsworthy event of today was Mick getting a haircut. No joke. But not to worry, plenty more adventures (misadventures?) to be had, as we fly out to Lima on Wednesday.

And Tuesday night in San Jose I should get to meet up incredibly briefly with Will, a friend from Tasmania who's going the opposite direction from Costa Rica to Mexico starting this week with some of his friends. Try not to be too jealous, Ottawa law friends. You'll get to see him and Bec soon enough.