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Published: March 2nd 2013
There were two options to get from Monte Verde to Arenal. The first is on a 100% dirt road on winding roads for 3 plus hours.. no thank you.. and the second option was Jeep-Boat-Jeep. Which is the option that we took. We took about a 1.5 – 2 hour bus (jeep) ride to Lake Arenal, where we took about a 30-45 minute boat ride to the other side of the lake and then a 30-minute taxi (jeep) ride up to the Arenal Observatory Lodge. We are completely secluded and about a 30-minute drive from the town of La Fortuna. We were 10+ KM away from the main highway. It was a little further out and harder to get to, but once we were there, we didn’t have to do much traveling to enjoy the wildlife.
We checked in, dropped off our bags, and hung out on the porch watching all the crazy birds. After a while we took a walk to the small waterfall and walked quite a bit of the property. We saw amazing flowers, a beautiful waterfall and lush jungle.
We checked into our little bungalow, which was about a 1 km walk from the main
lodge and restaurant. We hung out, ate dinner, had some drinks and enjoyed relaxing after a busy day. The next day we woke up and had a big long hike planned.
After breakfast we headed out on our way. We hiked up to Cerro Chato, the volcano behind the Arenal Volcano, which was now a crater lake. It was about a 2+ hour hike up, then about a 30 minute hike down to the lake. We were following closely behind a tour guide from the get go, so we asked them how to hike to the other side of the volcano to La Fortuna. We were on the right path from the get go but after a total of 5 hour we had made it to La Fortuna. It was so awesome—and such an accomplishment. From there we hiked down to a large waterfall, which was a great reward from our long hike. After that, I was famished—we had a bite to eat in La Fortuna and then headed back to our lodge. We had a pretty low-key night but enjoyed the sunset and played a couple of games. It was a great last day on the Volcano. The
only bummer was that we didn't get to see the full volcano; it was always too cloudy and covered the top.
The next am we were picked up by a very nice guy in a Toyota Camery and he was our driver to San Jose. We had a crazy ride. We drive on paved roads all the way there but on insane winding roads. But what was so crazy that there was almost zero visibility – you could only see about 10-15 feet in front of us around tight corners! SO INSANE. I didn’t get carsick once on the trip until this leg because even though I was watching the road, I couldn’t see where we were going or anticipate the curves. No barfing but it was rough J We arrived into San Jose and couldn't get ahold of our final destination airbnb -- instead of schlepping all of our crap all over the city, we decided to go to a hotel that I had looked up before we left. It ended up to be in San Jose’s “China town”—we did a tiny walk around the block and decided we were not in the best neighborhood. We decided to
play games, drink, chill, watch movies and enjoy each other’s company for our last day on vacation.
The next day we were on our way home. Thank you Costa Rica for being so good to us on our adventure vacation, we had a fabulous time and cannot wait to come live the Pura Vida with you again soon.
Hasta La Vista Baby!!
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Elena Ballam
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Can't wait to see it!
Loved your pictures and narrative. I am traveling to Costa Rica with my travel club, the Seven Seas Society--travelthesevenseas.com, this coming February, and I can't wait! One of the stops will be the Arenal Volcano, which looks absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing your experience.