Today, we started our adventure by trekking through the rainforest, and going through the hanging bridges. Then, we made our way to Lake Arenal, where we drifted through the water on Kayaks. We later traveled to a buffet lunch, and a cacao and sugarcane tour at an organic farm. We ended our day with a wonderful dinner at our resort, where we were served a three course meal. Despite the great day that we had throughout La Fortuna, at each stop we faced at least a small amount of rain. We experienced the most amount of rain during the waterfall hike, as we were deep in the rainforest. While it absolutely did not ruin our experience, in any location that it rained in, I completely understand the abilities of rain to ruin a tourist experience for visitors in Costa Rica.
Because of the rain, Sophie and I, who were sharing a Kayak, felt that we had to end our time on the water before our hour was up. I feel that this may be a common theme for this tourist attraction, which could bring in many issues for the company in the off season. Because the companies are aware of the rain, they may plan their trips around the weather, by possibly rescheduling their guests trips onto the lake, or charging a lower price in the off season too encourage guests to still visit, even if there will be rain. At places like the organic farm, I noticed that the farmers in charge of the tour seem to be prepared for guests during the off season. They have already created covered shelters, where they were able to comfortably continue the tour through the rain. During our tour, the guide mentioned that they have plans in place for the busy season, in the months of December and January, where they open the second, and sometimes third, part of their restaurant when there are a lot of guests. When we were at the restaurant today, they only had one side of the restaurant open, which proved to me that they have framed their operations to be very flexible around the ever-changing Costa Rican weather.
