My Neighbor in La Fortuna Has Been Guiding Tourists for 22 Years — Here's His Take
Carlos Rodriguez Mora has been a naturalist guide in the La Fortuna/Arenal area since 2004. Born and raised in the region, he's watched it transform from a quiet farming community into Costa Rica's adventure capital. We talked at his favorite soda near the church in La Fortuna town.
You've been doing this for over two decades. What keeps you going?
The forest never repeats itself. I've done the same night walk route maybe 3,000 times and I've never had the same walk twice. Last week I found a glass frog I'd never seen in that specific tree before. The week before, a kinkajou was eating from a fig tree right on the trail — first time in 8 months.
People think nature guides get bored. It's the opposite. Every walk, something makes you go, "I've never seen that before." That's what keeps it fresh.
What's the single best experience a tourist can have in the Arenal area?
The night walk. Without question. I know I'm biased because that's my specialty, but the cloud forest after dark is a completely different world. Red-eyed tree frogs come out. Tarantulas sit on their webs. Sleeping birds tuck their heads under their wings. Bioluminescent fungi glow on fallen logs. And there's no one else around — just you, the guide, and whatever the forest decides to show you.
A good night walk costs about $30 USD with a guide. It's the best $30 you'll spend in Costa Rica.
What mistake do tourists make most often?
They don't acclimatize. People fly into SJO, take a 3-hour shuttle to La Fortuna, and immediately want to do the La Fortuna Waterfall. That's 530 steps down and 530 steps back up in tropical humidity. After a long travel day. At a lower elevation than they're used to.
My advice: arrive, check into your hotel, have a casado for lunch at Soda Viquez (the fried fish version, 3,500 colones, best in town), and spend your first afternoon at Tabacon Hot Springs. Let the thermal water relax your muscles. Go to bed early. Do the waterfall on day two when you're rested.
What about Arenal Volcano National Park — is it worth the $15 entry?
Absolutely, but manage your expectations. The volcano hasn't erupted since 2010. You're not going to see lava. What you will see is the 3.4 km trail through the 1968 lava fields, which is fascinating — the forest is reclaiming the lava, and you can see the progression from bare rock to pioneer plants to full canopy.
The Peninsula trail has the best volcano views. But here's my tip: go before 7:30AM. After 10AM, clouds almost always cover the summit. I'd say 60% of tourists never see the top of the volcano because they arrive after lunch.
What's underrated in the area?
Mistico Hanging Bridges. Everyone talks about zip-lines — and I get it, the adrenaline is fun — but the hanging bridges are 3.2 km of elevated trails through the rainforest canopy at a pace where you can actually see things. Toucans, oropendola nests, howler monkeys. It costs about $28 USD and it's worth every colon.
Also, the Eco Termales hot springs. Everyone goes to Tabacon ($99 USD) because it's famous. Eco Termales is quieter, more intimate, limited to 100 visitors at a time, and costs about $47 USD. If you want the hot springs experience without the crowd, that's the one.
What about Monteverde? Worth the trip from here?
Monteverde is a different ecosystem entirely. We're lowland tropical here — Monteverde is 1,400 meters of cloud forest. The jeep-boat-jeep transfer ($30 USD, about 3.5 hours) is the way to go. Don't take the all-road route; it's 5 hours on bad roads and you miss the lake crossing, which is beautiful.
Monteverde has the quetzal. December to April is the best season. Even if you don't find one, the cloud forest itself — trees covered in moss, orchids everywhere, clouds moving through the canopy — it's like being on another planet. I still get emotional when I visit.
What should tourists know about Costa Rican food?
Eat at sodas. That's the single most important food advice I can give. Sodas are small family-run restaurants — every town has several. A casado (rice, beans, protein, salad, plantains) costs 3,000-5,000 colones ($5-9 USD). The tourist restaurants in La Fortuna charge $15-25 for the same quality.
The gallo pinto (rice and beans for breakfast, fried with Lizano sauce) is the national dish. Ask for "gallo pinto con huevo" — add an egg. Some people think it's boring. Those people are wrong. Good gallo pinto with Lizano sauce is one of the great simple breakfasts in the world.
What do tourists get wrong about wildlife?
They expect it to be easy. Costa Rica has incredible biodiversity — 5% of the world's species on 0.03% of its surface — but most of those animals are excellent at hiding. You need a guide with a trained eye and a spotting scope to see sloths 30 meters up in the canopy. Without a guide at Manuel Antonio, you'll see capuchin monkeys (they're bold and they steal your food) and iguanas. With a guide, you'll see three-toed sloths, toucans, poison dart frogs, and things you didn't know existed.
The other mistake: drones. Please don't fly drones near wildlife. We had a tourist last month fly a drone near a nesting scarlet macaw and the bird abandoned the nest. National parks ban them. Guides hate them. Just use your eyes.
For a different kind of wildlife adventure, Nairobi offers safari experiences where the animals are the size of your car — a completely different scale.
If you could change one thing about tourism here, what would it be?
I'd make people stay longer and move slower. The classic 7-day Costa Rica itinerary is San Jose, La Fortuna, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio — four transfers in seven days. That's a lot of driving and not enough forest.
If I designed the itinerary? Three nights in La Fortuna, three nights in Monteverde, three nights on the coast. Nine days, three places. Dawn and dusk are when the wildlife is active. If you're on a shuttle bus at dawn, you're missing the best part.
Pura vida means "pure life" but it also means "slow down." The tourists who have the best experiences are the ones who stop trying to see everything and just sit still long enough for the forest to come to them.
Carlos runs guided night walks and volcano hikes from La Fortuna. Book through your hotel or find him at the guide association office near the church. Walks cost about $30 USD per person.
