Today is a reasonably long travel day so we are on the road at 8am. We are travelling by public bus which means we have a few stangers on board. It started raining early and does not let up. Its a long 2 hour bumpy ride to the shore of Lake Arenal where we will board a ferry for a 45 minute crossing. The weather and road conditions mean we are late arriving, but the ferry has been held up for the same reason. We wait in the bus for the ferry as it is still pouring rain. But the time to move comes and as we unload our luggage and then carry it for about 300-400 metres through mud and slush to the shore, we are drenched and so are our bags. I'm also carrying the case of one of the elderly ladies in the group so it's slow progress. We get to the ferry to find out that the passengers on board have not yet disembarked. So we are forced to stand there in the rain whilst they do that. We are a pretty miserable group by the time we get aboard. It is not so much a ferry as a very small narrow boat. The lake is quite chopped up so this could be an interesting ride! We make it across and nose into a rocky shore. Another wet exercise getting us and our luggage off and we are then faced with an extremely steep climb over rocks and a crumbling concrete path to our bus. Another public bus so we have a couple of drop offs before we arrive at our hotel. We get a briefing on possible activities but with the weather so bad I decide to wait until tomorrow and then make a decision. The weather clears a bit and gives us a great view of the Arenal volcano. It is a dramatic back drop to the town. La Fortuna seems to be quite a touristy town. Lots of places selling tours and clearly lots of non locals. Not only can you recognise them by their looks but also by the standard attire - shorts, t shirts and thongs. The locals are generally in long pants. A few cold Imperials after dinner and I call it a day