Costa Rica Part 1: Into the Volcanic Rainforests of La Fortuna

There is a distinct type of therapy in completely stepping away from work and school. Our destination? A 7-day trek across Costa Rica, charting a route from the rainy, volcanic cloud forests of La Fortuna down to the sun-soaked Pacific coast of Coco Beach.

Part one of the journey was all about diving headfirst into the jungle, getting a feel for driving in the mountains, and breaking in a spectacular outdoor live-fire pit.

Smooth Skies and the Great Landscape Divide

Our journey kicked off with a smooth, completely delay-free flight path routing from Raleigh (RDU) through Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and landing straight into Liberia (LIR). Total flying time clocked in at a highly manageable 4 hours—no complaints from anyone in the crew, and TSA was a breeze.

Once we touched down and picked up the keys to our rental car, we initiated the 3-hour, 85-mile transit to our mountain base camp in La Fortuna. Let me tell you, driving down Highway 142 is an experience. The roads are narrow and heavily winding, cutting through beautiful countryside farms. On the western side of the region, the terrain was remarkably dry and brown.

But the exact moment we skirted past Lake Arenal, the landscape abruptly inverted. It was like someone flipped a switch from “desert” to “jungle”—shifting into a lush, vibrant green accompanied by sudden tropical rain showers.

Around late afternoon, we stopped in a tiny village for our first authentic taste of the country: a classic Costa Rican meal of rice, beans, chicken with tomatoes, and fresh fruit juices. Hit the spot perfectly after a long travel day.

Cabañas Caeli: Rain, Stairs, and a Private Chef

Traffic bottlenecked a bit as we closed in on La Fortuna, but we finally veered off the main road to find our resort, Cabañas Caeli. Because of the steady evening downpours, the private chef we had lined up prepared our arrival dinner entirely inside our villa room instead of out on the terrace. No complaints here—the food was incredible.

While dinner was being prepped, we braved a long flight of steep stairs leading almost all the way down toward the property’s natural spring swimming pool. We hiked back up to the room just in time to eat, and then let Ella unwind from the long commute with a swim in the hot tub while the rain came down.

Early Wakeups and Horses at La Finca

We caught an early 5:45 AM wakeup call the next morning to get ready for the day’s big excursion. Stepping outside, we were finally greeted by the jaw-dropping mountain views right from our villa window—views that the previous night’s pitch darkness and heavy rain had completely obscured. It turns out it had poured several times overnight, leaving everything steaming and impossibly green.

On our way out to La Finca, we grabbed a quick pit stop at a local café for hot coffee and pastries. The roads on this side of town proved to be significantly flatter and faster than the twisting mountain tracks around the lake.

Once we arrived, the group split up: Carly, Ella, and Maya headed out into the hills for a horseback riding tour through the landscape. Charlotte and I became the designated ground crew. We hung back at the base restaurant and enjoyed a massive, leisurely breakfast spread. Charlotte went the classic route with pancakes, bacon, and hot cocoa, while I dove into a traditional plate of eggs, beans, rice, plantains, fresh fruit, and excellent local coffee. We spent the remainder of the morning hiking a few of the resort trails and lounging by the pool until the riders wrapped up their tour.

The Lucca Parallel: Taming the Fire Pit

That evening provided what was easily one of my favorite cooking experiences of any vacation I’ve taken. Our villa featured an incredible outdoor fire pit overlooking the sweeping valley below—a setup that instantly gave me nostalgic flashbacks to managing the wood-fired stove oven back during our days in Lucca, Italy.

We raided a local grocery store down in town that had an impressive butcher shop, scoring some marinated chicken breast, pork chops, and steaks.

I’ll admit, I got the wood fire burning exceptionally hot—maybe a little too hot—but it left some absolutely beautiful, deep grill marks on the meat. Sitting outside, managing the flames, and watching the sun go down over the Costa Rican valley with the family made the whole travel day worth it.

Next up, we are tackling the massive thermal matrix of Baldi Hot Springs and heading up into the zipline canopy. Stay tuned for Part 2!