Eco-Disney, a label that has been used for the crass exploitation of ecotourism, describes perfectly Hotel Los Lagos, one of many resorts in the very touristy region of La Fortuna. The entrance itself resembles that of an amusement park: parking lot on the right, manicured garden and lake on the left, and gated entrance with guardhouse up front. Before the uniformed guard lifts the gate, you need to check in at reception, pay, and get a bracelet. The bracelet is your ticket for entry and unlimited access to the facilities. The grounds are huge and if you are too tired to walk, a van will give you a ride. Past the restaurant, souvenir shop, koi pond, fountain shaped like a volcano, horse stables, and spa building, you reach the rooms, about eight per building, each with a view of the Arenal volcano. The rooms themselves are no big deal, but that’s not why you came here. You came to enjoy nature and there’s lots of it; 250 hectares of it to be exact. Guests are encouraged to go horseback riding up the hill where a volcano observatory was built or go canopying down zip lines that criss-cross the property. For those that want to see rainforest animals up close, there is a crocodile farm, butterfly farm, frog farm (now abandoned), and an ant farm that consists of an open room with branches over your head that provide a route for the leafcutter ants. There was probably at one point also a hummingbird garden but a new law forbids feeding any and all wildlife so the feeders with sweet water are gone. Nevertheless, guests can enjoy bird watching from the comfort of their seats in the open-air restaurant. While being served coffee by a waiter in a Hawaiian shirt (to reinforce the tropical setting), you can spot hummingbirds, tanagers, kiskadees, cuckoos, even toucans, flying around the lush gardens. For those that want a more gentle experience with Costa Rican nature, Fangus spa offers volcanic mud, tropical fruit, chocolate, and coffee body wraps. Another attraction of the resort, probably it’s most popular, is the series of pools. Two “cold” ones with water slides that make adults shriek in excitement, a series of small hot pools for couples looking for privacy, and a large, 94º F pool, with a smaller slide, a swim-up bar, and jacuzzi jets. The pool’s flintstonesque architecture provides visitors the visual cue that they’re in rugged territory, just in case the backdrop of tropical foliage and an impressive volcano, promising to erupt any minute, aren’t clues enough. Thank goodness, Los Lagos lacks piped music, or worse, piped ambient noises. The deafening sounds of insects and frogs were real.