The trip from Tamarindo to Tilaran took longer than we thought. We were actually headed for La Fortuna which is again a small town that is very Americanised located at the bottom of this beautiful volcano but it was another 2 hours away from Tilaran and we had missed the last bus.

Tilaran is a small cowboy town and on the weekend the town was hosting a Rodeo which we thought we might stick around for so we found a cheap hotel and were ready to settle in for a few days.

The first day we did a day trip to La Fortuna and Volcano Arenal. We caught the first bus at 7am to the National Park then from the main road we walked about 1.5kms to the main entrance. We ended up doing all of the trails through the rainforest, up the lava paths to view points of the volcano. We were very lucky because there were not many clouds today so we got a good view. This volcano erupted in 1966 and apparently is active most days. At night you can see lava splashing out the top apparently although we couldn't be bothered to stick around for this as we had just finished the 12km hike and it was before lunch. No idea why you would want to live there.

Once we had finished trekking we ended up hitching a lift into La Fortuna with a really lovely couple from Texas who were on their honeymoon. We had some lunch and then had heard about this great waterfall which the locals said was about 1km from town. Later we find out and after walking for about 1.5hrs in the heat of the day with no shade and on bitumen roads it was about 5 kms from town. What the locals apparently ment was it was it was 1km to the turn off. Lets just say it was great when we finally saw the water and could jump in. The water fall is 70m high and is very very powerful. Junior and Mark got the whistle blown at them for trying to swim out to it even though they weren't having much luck. We decided for the easy option to get home which was a taxi.

We sat in the park playing cards with a few beers waiting for our bus back to Tilaran. We ended up at the bus station about half an hour early anyway but the boys found a way to make the time pass which was a machine with soft teddy prizes in it. It has the claw that you have to move out till you are over the top of a toy and then you drop it down and hope the claw catches on. It was only 25c a go. After about $2 Junior got one and he gave it to a little boy who was so happy. They guys kept trying and the claw was grabbing on to them all the time but then it would drop when it hit the top. We would have got about 10 of them if this wasn't happening. But it was good fun anyway. 2 hour bus trip back to Tilaran.

At night we went out to dinner and then headed down to check out the set up for this rodeo. There were only a few people there this night but most of the shops and bars were open. We walked over to where farmers were trying to sell their bulls. The winner was a bull weighing in at 1180kgs, it was massive. We got in there patting the bulls and chatting with one of the owners.

The first night of events was horse dressage. The horse came out, walked around the ring twice and then walked to the center of the grounds where they had a wooden crate they then had to tap dance on the crate for 2 mins without any legs slipping off. It was good and funny to watch once we knew what was going on. After the horse had finished it was time for dancing so we headed to the bar and watched all the locals dance. They are all so good over here with their couple dancing we tried but still we have no rythm. Oh yeah we were the only gringos at this whole event in this whole town.

The next day, Saturday there was a lot going on in the town with music out of every shop, a stage set up in the main square with a list of performers throughout the day. We chilled out around town till about 7pm then we went down to the bull ring hoping to see bull riding only to find horses dancing again. There was a guy there with this game which was a small blow up pool with a plate floating in the middle. You had to stand behind this fence and throw a 100 colones local money onto the plate and if you got it on you would win 2000 colones which is about $4. Junior was really good at it and won enough money to pay for our dinner. We kept going back throughout the night and winning more it was so funny. The guy was hating us though and told Junior a few times this was this last go. I don't think the guy made much money that night.

Sunday was finally the rodeo day. Before this though was a horse parade through the town. The streets were lined with deck chairs, eskies and BBQ’s also music set up pumping out of the back of the utes which the locals were sitting on. When the parade started we watched the horses doing the funny walking and laysoo throwing. It was really funny. It seemed as though the riders were being judged and there was allsorts, everyone from cute little kids in their cowboy or girl gear to old men with beers. One guy stopped in front of us and asked if we would like a go. As I don't like it and Mark had not ridden a horse before he jumped up thinking he was just getting a photo only for the horse to wander away with him on the back. The man whose horse it was stood with us having a beer watching his horse take Mark for a ride. We asked if it was o.k. and he said "Yeah he'll probably just do a lap around the square"! He came back about 5 mins later with a little boy holding the reigns. At night we headed down to the grounds to finally watch the bull riding. It was good to watch and see the locals get into it. Mark even went into the bull ring with the locals but the bull got a bit close and grazed his arm with it's horn. The police came up and told him he had to stick with the locals or get out. He opted for the second option getting out nursing his sore arm.

The next day it was time to finally leave Tilaran we did spend way to much time there but it was good fun. We had to catch a bus to Liberia and then another bus across the boarder into Nicaragua.