After the STEEP hike back up we boarded the bus for downtown Fortuna. Here we learned about coffee and were told we should become coffee snobs. The coffee store owner taught us how to smell the aroma and how to SLURP the coffee to appreciate the best taste. Prices were high ($11/pound) but several students were convinced that HIS coffee was the best.
Next we had a bag lunch in the beautiful park in downtown Fortuna, a town not much bigger than Three Lakes, and bubbling with people like it was the Forth of July. Lunch was a chicken sandwich and a ham sandwich, with big slices of tomatoes and crisp lettuce. We also got a juice box and an apple. We then had 1.5 hours to shop and roam around. I mailed my postcards to my kids and was surprised that the stamps were 280 Colones each (about $0.65).
We loaded back on the bus at 12:45 destined for Lake Arenal and Kayaking. On our trip up to the lake the temperature rose to 39 degrees C = 105 F. We stripped down to our suits (which were just barely dry from the waterfalls. As we headed out to get our gear for kayaking it started to rain. Remember, it was 100 degrees, so it felt good. However after getting our PFD and paddle, the rain was a bit cold and we couldn't believe we were heading out to paddle in a down pour!
Our paddle was great, our two guides were great, and it stopped raining. I enjoyed speaking Spanish with the non-bilingual guide. He gave me the history of the lake, dating back to 1979 when they CREATED the lake. There are two cities under the water. YES, two cities, buildings, houses, churches, and other cool things for snorkelers to search for. All the families that used to live in these communities were given government money to move to New Arenal (a town we will visit tomorrow). Lake Arenal was created for Hydroelectricity and is still the biggest producer of electricity in all of Central America.
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