Yesterday was one of those days we spent on routine chores like laundry and trying to make our plans a bit more concrete. Reading travel guides and scouring the internet from the shade of Casa de Papel's patio and jumping in the pool occasionally made it a whole lot easier. In the evening we went to Cafe Liberia, an LP recommendation which was fantastic. The waitress was hilarious especially when she couldn't understand the Scottish pronounciation of 'water' - she was only used to the American pronounciation.

After a day of relative relaxation yesterday, we were in for a day of public transport from Liberia to Cañas, Cañas to Tilarán and finally Tilarán to La Fortuna de San Carlos. The first bus to Cañas was just a boring ride down the InterAmericana highway and the second not much more interesting although we were heading towards the hills. The final bus trip was much better in terms of scenery but not so great in terms of roads. The road wound it's way up, down and around the surrounding hills of Lago Arenal with great views of Volcan Arenal.

We hadn't made any bookings for accommodation, we figured being low, or Green, season that we could just turn up and check out the rooms when we got there. We had picked out Arenal Hostel Resort as our first choice and were pleased we did. We had a large room with AC, cable TV and even a couple of rocking chairs outside the room facing up towards the volcano (there was a tree in the way though). There was a really nice garden with a few hammocks, a pool, a bar and a kitchen area - everything we needed really.

After we had settled into our room, we realised we were starving and headed out in search of some food. There was a local 'Soda' (like a cafe serving basic food) on the next block so we gave it a try. 'Casado' is a very popular lunchtime meal and translates to 'Married Mans Meal'. It's basically rice, beans, salad, potatoes and some meat. We hadn't seen pork on menus since Mexico so to have the chance of a pork chop was not something to be turned down. When the plate came to the table, Maria nearly died, no way was she going to be able to eat everything. David on the other hand was starving and immediately got stuck into his. It was absolutely delicious.

A walk was needed afterwards to help digest the huge amount of food that was eaten. La Fortuna's centre is quite small so we managed to get round it all quite quickly and get back to our 'resort'. As part of our package we were given vouchers for a Welcome Drink at the bar and it would have been rude not to use them. It was a pretty girly looking cocktail with red, amber and blue layers in a high glass. The top layer had some pretty mean Tequila in though and because it was drunk through a straw, it didn't hit you until the end.