Lake Arenal

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March 18th 2007

Published: August 7th 2007

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CR Pura Vida 2007

Arenal Volcano

This was the best view we had of the volcano. It was cloudy most of our visit to this area

Ginnie and Dan arrived on Saturday (after battling with a flight cancellation, etc). We celebrated Ginnie’s birthday with a belated Happy Birthday cake. Grayson was really excited to “help” her blow out the candles. We spent the night at the condo and started toward Lake Arenal the next morning. The drive to Lake Arenal was pretty uneventful. The roads were paved most of the way so it was a smooth ride. We did encounter one of the precarious bridges that made Dan and Ginnie shift in their seats a bit (hee-hee). We stopped for a snack at a soda we saw on the side of the road. Dan and Ginnie loved the salsa!

The Arenal Lodge owns 2,000 acres. The brick driveway into the lodge was ~3/4 mile long. The lodge itself was rustic, but the grounds were definitely a place to relax and to enjoy nature. There were several walking trails and a butterfly farm on the premises. We were able to see blue and gold Macaws, monkeys with babies, Coatimundis, deer, weasels, butterflies, horses and beautiful birds. Our room was perched on a hill and had a view out to the volcano. The weather was not cooperative so

Happy Birthday Ginnie

Grayson helps Ginnie blow out the candles

we were unable to see the entire volcano. (Kilon and I witnessed the lava flow in 2001 and were hoping for a repeat but no such luck). The front windows in our room appeared to be extremely dirty so we requested the windows be cleaned to not impede our view if the fog lifted from the mountain. Two young men arrived to clean our windows. They used a pole typically used at swimming pools to clean the tile and tied rags around the end of the brush. They occasionally squirted some cleaner up at the windows. We found it amusing, but even more so when Grayson tried to chase the rags from the inside looking out.

We visited the hot springs and loved it! It was the perfect outing for a cool, rainy day. The Tabacon Hot Springs are situated at the base of the volcano. There are numerous springs to enjoy and each is labeled with the water temperature. Lush gardens surround the springs and a meandering pathway connects the soaking pools.

After discussing our outing options we settled on the hanging bridges to accommodate everyone. It was the perfect compromise. We were able to tour the

Roadside Soda

Roadside soda we ate at on our way to Lake Arenal

rain forest with Grayson in tow. Ginnie spotted a brightly colored poisonous frog. We saw a group of white faced monkeys playing in the tree tops. The variety of trees, flowers, etc in the rain forest made it extremely difficult for the untrained eye to spot the wildlife that was probably flourishing right under our feet. Of course, a 3-1/2 year old will also scare most animals away. Grayson REALLY enjoyed the hanging bridges. Grayson and Pop-pop waited patiently at the end of the bridge and charged Kilon and Mokey a fee to exit the bridge. He’s a little entrepreneur.

While touring the road around Lake Arenal we spotted a Swiss Hotel/restaurant. If it had been 45 degrees colder you would have thought that you were in the Alps. Dan wanted to stop while some of us were a bit apprehensive about Swiss food in Costa Rica. We were all pleasantly surprised though. On the way back from lunch we were stopped on the road by a pack of about 20 Coatimundis begging for Grayson’s leftovers. After obliging the beggars we saw a sign requesting that you not feed them. Oh well.

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