Fortuna Warnings Or Dangers Tips by BEETLE_VERTE Top 5 Page for this destination

Very active Arenal volcano

It seemed obvious: a volcano is dangerous. But we didn't imagined how much. While on our Arenal volcano trip, our guide told us the history of the volcano. From one of the first eruption, when they didn't even know this big mountain was a volcano, the destruction of many villages, the death of citizens, the avalanche of rocks just as destructive and deadly (the volcano grows 1 meter evey month since it's so active... it creates unstable walls of rocks that can collapse anytime) and so on. Even the horrific story of a guided tour on another path (now close) where a guide and tourists lost their lives, lungs burned from volcanic ashes. Or that at the hot spring resorts, the cars will park with their back to the wall, so they can flee easier in case of emergency.

Maybe this is just a touristic speach so we'll get a huge feeling back from our trip, kind of horror stories at a children campfire, but some must be at least a little true...

In fact, it wont affect your trip. Don't do anything stupid (I wonder what it is like to climb up a volcano and look inside) and follow the instructions IF something happens. But still...! Pretty impressive!!

Bus thief

We were carefully warn about the risk of getting our handback stollen or being robbed by pickpocketers during the public bus ride around Fortuna, Santa Elena and Monteverde. Although we never felt as targets, we didn't took any chance.

We kept our fanny bag under our shirt and our handbag (small backpack) with us at all time. Also tried to keep an eye on our luggage under the bus each time it stopped, avoiding as much as possible to make these big touristic backpacks appealing...

But the bus company and local authority really seem to care about this problem. The driver was the one to tell us to keep our bags on hand (and not on the overhead compartment). He also gave us tags for our luggage, as he was the only one allowed to open the compartment under the bus.