VOLCANO ARENAL, Costa Rica

The next morning, the four of us piled into the rental car and headed for Volcano Arenal, 4-hour drive north of us.  The scenery was beautiful.  Many flowering trees and farmlands.  The trees are spectacular, large and spreading.   Looks like pictures I’ve seen of Africa.  The roads were rough and full of potholes and it was killing my back.  It was slow going since the highway was two single lanes and full of trucks bringing in loads dropped off by the freighters in Puntarenas.  They were all heading on “the road to San Jose” which was the direction we had to take ¾ of the way to the Volcano.  It was a tiring challenge passing all these trucks on the mountain roads but Larry did a spectacular job.  The Tico drivers are unpredictable.  They don’t seem to abide by any driving regulations that we are familiar with or have common sense when they are behind the wheel.  As we finally turned off the main highway and headed on the country road to the volcano, each mile got more tropical and picturesque.  The landscape was an endless panorama of rolling hills filled with dracaena and other tropical plants that we see frequently in our homes.  I’m sure these plants end of in our local nurseries.  We passed miles and miles of them.  I’m sure we passed coffee plantations but weren’t sure what they looked like.  We were dizzy with the many twisting turns, and crossing rustic single lane suspension bridges, until we came around a corner and got our first  impact of the view of the Volcano Arenal! 

Arenal was dormant from about 1500 AD until it erupted violently in July 1968  leaving two villages destroyed and some say 80 people lost their lives.   It continues since that date to be one of the most active volcanoes in the world.  In the year 2000, three people were overtaken by hiking too close.  It’s a dangerous place and has easy unguarded access.  We were lucky because on this day we had a clear view of the top.  Many make this long trek only to find their destination hidden in cloud cover.  We had been warned, but it was our lucky day.  It was quietly spewing small puffs of white smoke and looked quite innocent of any potential bad doing or potential eruptions.  Each turn in the road become another picture perfect glance, as it’s majesty got larger and closer.   The soil was a rich black and red color and the landscape was verdant and full.

TABACON HOT SPRINGS

 We headed for the resort Tabacon Hot Springs.  It is famous for their beautifully landscaped tropical grounds that are terraced with natural lava rock soaking pools.  The pools are  of varying temperatures and naturally heated by the lava flow.   We spent the afternoon having lunch, soaking in the healing pools, and having cocktails at the swim up bar.  All the while watching the nearby volcano puffing white smoke.  All the people that walked the gardens and soaked in these unique pools were adorned identification wristbands in case of catastrophe.  We also noticed the over abundance of exit signs and directions to run in case of an emergency.  Geologists have declared this spa area to be in the high-risk zone.  It didn’t seem to bother the multitude of pleasure seekers who like us were enjoying the seemingly innocence of the surroundings.   (In case you’re wondering, I could not talk the spa into letting Zigmeister in no matter what ploy I tried.  So we found a vendor across from the spa that gladly let Zig sit by him as he sold his wares of carved masks and native fabrics.  He did not think it unusual or a burden and did not expect any money in return when we came out although Larry insisted and rewarded him generously.)  

We settled in to our individual cabanas in the small village of Fortuna just down the road.  We preferred to stay there rather than the busy touristy Tabacon Resort.  From our  quiet secluded cabanas we had private porches with locally made rocking chairs to sit and view the spectacular view of the volcano.  It was as if the volcano was in our own back yard.  The air was cool in the mountains and we enjoyed not having to run air conditioning.  We listened to the sounds of the exotic wild birds.

 We had worked up a pretty good appetite with all that soaking and driving and headed to the small village for some rotisserie chicken that we had read about.  It was an outdoor restaurant with picnic tables.  We were drawn in by the large bunches of garlic and onions hanging from the front eaves.  Behind our table was a large fish tank with langostinos and tilapia in it.  They seemed to starring at us.  It was a little uncomfortable after we had made eye contact with a few of them, to then see them  swooped up with a fish net by the waiter, and then minutes later, served at a nearby table for dinner.  After that, we preferred not to make any further communication with them.  We decided instead to order roasted chicken with garlic sauce and it was the best I’ve ever eaten.  We ordered an extra half chicken for Ziggy who thought the same! That chicken was soooo good I’ll be wishing I could get some when I’m back home.

We slept like logs and awoke at dawn to see the Volcano actively smoking and lava flowing down the side.  I was irritated to hear from other people at breakfast that they had stayed up during the night and saw a spectacular show as the Volcano was erupting red lava.   We hated to have missed that. 

LAKE ARENAL

Reluctantly, we had a long day ahead of us and decided we needed to get going.  We were going to head further north rather than repeating the same scenery.  We had asked a few locals if the road around Lake Arenal was passable.  We were assured that if we had a four-wheel drive we could make it.  We were warned that  a few areas were washed out at the bridges but were repaired enough to get by.  So, we unanimously decided that’s the direction we wanted to go.  We consulted the map and decided it would be longer but would eventually hook up with the Pan American HWY.  This would probably be a better road with fewer trucks on the way back.  It also gave us the opportunity to see Lake Arenal, which is world famous for wind surfing.  It is said to have winds at times from 30-50 knots.   Wind surfers from around the world come to this lake just to test the winds.

We captured some spectacular shots of the volcano from this direction with Lake Arenal at its baseline.  As we stopped at one turn in the road, several Coatis came running up to the car.  They are in the family of raccoons and have long snouts.  Very cute and gentle, almost tame.  People must be feeding them and that’s why they ran to the car when we stopped.  It was a beautiful drive and the lake provided some spectacular scenery but there were no winds and  no wind surfers.  The road had some pretty serious potholes potholes and washed out bridges but was easily managed with no problems.  A hand made sign along the way said “German Bakery Ahead at Puerto Nuevo” spurred us on.  We passed a few remote B&B’s but no developments.  The area is pristine and remote.    By the time we got there were imagining apple strudel and all sorts of goodies.  After our respite at the German Bakery and a few cappuccinos, we linked up with Pan American HWY headed back to the boat but not before stopping to show our friends the bridge overlook to see the  crocodiles.  We also stopped to see the nearby Hotel Villa Caladeras.  This hotel is spectacular in case anyone is coming this way.  It’s remote location on top of the mountain overlooking the ocean.  The winding one lane road with a shear drop off to the hotel is about a mile long. It’s a fairly steep incline and I wouldn’t want to come up there one night with a few drinks under our belts.   Once you reach the hotel, it’s like you’ve reach the Amalfi Coast!  The architecture and setting is very upscale and Italian.  We were truly impressed. 

We needed to get back and prepare for the next day.  We were off to do some island hopping and explore some anchorages on the remote Nogoya Peninsula.  Jump to Gunkholing.