12-18-2012--Santa Ana to La Fortuna

12-18-2012 - Santa Ana to La Fortuna

We slept in. Until 9:00 am, but I mentioned that already. After we got up, Kelsey went to the hotel workout room and I prepared the previous blog post. Erika, as usual, read a book.   We got packed up and checked out, loaded the car and headed to Banco Nacional to convert some US dollars. This is where we learned about Costa Rica banks. 

We went into the lobby (where I had gotten 50,000 Collones the night before. There was an area to the left of the door that resembled a glassed in Sally Port. Kelsey and I both went in, after which the guard on the other side made clear to us it was one person at a time. I went in and the guard activated a metal scanner device that told him I wasn't carrying any dangerous weapons (actually, I had a clasp knife on my belt). He let me in and asked me to take off my hat. Repeat for Kelsey. There were three rows of 5 chairs each, the first ten of which were occupied. The guard motioned to us to take seats in the 3rd row. Whenever someone finished and left, everyone shifted a seat and the line moved up. We decided to leave - it would have taken an hour at the rate the lime was moving. Then, out the Sally Port, one person at a time. Go in, door shuts, guard releases next door and you're free! Dot hey have a problem with bank robberies in Costa Rica?

We mounted the GPS and got on the road. Daphne the GPS lady kept trying to route us a way we didn't want to go. We eventually mapped it up to Highway 1, the Pan-American Highway, and we're on our way. Nonstop bumper-to-bumper travel until about 5or so kilometers out from the airport area. Oh, the motorcycles here lane split. 

There are a lot of bikes here. Most appear to be 250 and under cc Hondas and Suzukis.  I think I saw one KLR 650 and then a beautiful KTM 990.

Helmets are mandatory here. Everyone we saw was wearing a helmet until we got up near La Fortuna. 

Everyone says don't compute driving time in Costa Rica by distance. So right. It was about 75 kilometers from Santa Ana to La Fortuna, and it took close to 3 hours to do the drive. By the time we'd reached the turnoff to Grecia, we'd left the City behind and knew we were is a tropical country. Lots of banana trees and other tropical foliage. 

After a drive through San Ramon, we were on the road to La Fortuna. I have to say, this road would be an excellent motorcycle road. Speed limit was 40 or 50 km per hour, with lots of twisties and good pavement. There were plenty of one lane bridges to cross.

After arriving in La Fortuna we checked into our hotel - Hotel Bijagua - which is a few kilometers outside the main city center. The hotel has maybe 20 rooms and a very private courtyard with a small pool. David, who checked us in was very friendly and accommodating. The rooms are basic but very nice. At $80/night, I'm not very happy. This is the view from our 2nd floor patio:

Had dinner at La Espanñol, an open air Soda type restaurant. 

The winning dish was Erika's Paella con Pollo. It was authentic paella, as Miguel, the owner moved to La Fortuna from Madrid earlier this year.  Erika's Paella (nothing like a little food porn):

The view from the road in front of the restaurant (and our hotel) looking toward the Volcano:

Now we're settled into our room for the night. Tomorrow to explore the town and the area.