If you look at a big map of Costa Rica you will find several La Fortunas, as well as other same names. they seem to be in short supply of names. This time Leo drove us to the vicinity of Volcano Arenal. We reserved from Home Away a big house with 4 bedrooms if you can call then separate bedrooms – they had no ceilings, were all under the same roof and therefore the sounds traveled expressively! But the house was impressive, one of a kind. The owner Julian from Israel has designed and built it himself. The first spacious area there is his galleryￂﾠￂﾠ -he is a jeweler and artist, so there are interesting things to look at. Then there are two spacious bathrooms and a very spacious kitchen with the living room – a good place to stay for a big family or a group:
The house is set up on a big piece of land, beautifully landscaped, with the owner’s house further down the property:
This was an unusually clear morning:
I am stating with the house here because it evidently left the biggest impression. Because when we drove to the other side of volcano where all the trails are and while we figured out how to spend our 3 full days there, nothing seemed as impressive as the house :-). Well, not exactly. The hot springs that we found under a bridge of our road to volcano – they were really beyond and above! This was a very warm river, formed into a waterfall and then rushing through stones with great energy down. And they were free! Except for the parking fee – this is a popular occupation of Costa Ricans as we noticed. They put on a bright vest and stand close to a place of interest where you have to park and have to pay them. But the fee was reasonable – $4. Whereas if we went to one of the developed hot springs the ticket per person could reach $95 and they reminded me from pictures the Disneyland. We went for a more natural setting! And for a healthy one -ￂﾠ the river gave us such a massage! Could not be better. I think those were the best hot springs I ever experienced, and we have interest in them:
Over there by volcano Arenal we figured out that there is not single path anywhere around that we could walk on it for free!ￂﾠ We are not used to such expensive trails, so it was an astonishment. But then we agreed that the trails in the jungle require a lot of maintenance, so you have to pay. The one we took was further on the road than the entrance to the national park, it was $10 per personￂﾠ and it was like this:
This is how a fresh palm leaf looks like-ￂﾠ red! 
A super big tree which even had a name: 
There we heard some howler monkeys but that is it. Didn’t see any promised toucans or else. The trees in the jungle are very very tall, so you need to just sit and look up to their top branches with binoculars – then maybe… The next attraction was Zip lining. We bought it over the internet. It was $81 per person and so we flew down 8 rather long lines all attached to the harness:
To tell the truth I was a little scared, but when I saw their equipment and how careful the guys were, how many of them ran around us to make it pleasant, I relaxed. We were taken up in a small wagon and could see Lake Arenal very well from there. The zippingￂﾠ was arranged over a canyon full with trees – meaning over their tops far below:
Lake arenal is an artificial lake. Theyￂﾠ make electricity during the rainy period and they collect the water during the dry period and make electricity from solar panels. 
One of the pleasant and beautiful staffers in that zip lining business: 
And that was it for the fun in La Fortuna. Oh, almost forgot-ￂﾠ the last morning was not so cloudy so we managed to see the top of volcano Arenal and immediately its gas started creating a cloud and curling around its head and covering it again like Trump’s hair string:
The volcano is active… Belowￂﾠ -papayas are growing, but not in our host’s garden: 
