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Published: December 6th 2009
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arenal volcano
at the front door of our cabin After 3 days in the city learning the ropes, we went off on our own with our GPS- we call her GyPSy. The route to Arenal was amazing, scary and beautiful all at the same time. The tiny road took us through villages and over mountain ridges, all the while dodging pot holes and negotiating curves. We found a 'typical soda' to eat at - it's our goal to eat the local food - instead of at tourist restaurants, and it was really good. Even the kids loved the arroz con pollo piled high and shaped like a volcano! We had casados - means marriage - a mix of beans, rice, plantain, chicken, and this one included a beet & potato salad.
Our hotel was spread out over a huge property on the slope of the volcano. We arrived in the sunshine but the top of the volcano had rolling clouds at the cone, we would learn over the next few days that this was actually a pretty good viewing because it often disappears completely in the fog and cloud. Our cabin had a field of horses right out our back door and toucans sitting in the trees!!
The kids came
coffee maker
at the soda for lunch and went from the pools constantly, they have 2 cool pools and a series of 5-6 hotsprings dotting the side of the hill and a couple of water slides. They had water going through all the jungle-like gardens; waterfalls, streams, rivers everywhere and really natural and overgrown. One of the reasons I picked this hotel was also the attractions for the kids to see, they have an area on the hotel gardens with turtles, a crocodile pen with very big crocs, a butterfly house, an amazing leaf cutter ant display (not for the faint of heart) and iguanas running loose everywhere. There is a hanging bridge over a ravine that you can walk to and zip-lining.
I had put the idea of zip-lining in everyone's head before our trip and I was nervous but planning to try it - until I saw a lady coming in too fast and her feet crashing into the tree. She was fine but that did it for me. Doug took the kids and they said it was fantastic and the kids want to go again. You go down a series of 12 cables of various length, the guide clips you on, you zip and
arroz con pollo
shaped like a volcano land on the next tree platform, another guide unclips you and then re- clips you to the next line etc. It took them about 90 minutes to come all the way down from the top of the hill and I got to see them on the last two cables as they flew over the pool where I was lounging ( I know what a chicken eh) . The guide took some great pictures for us.
My favorite part of Arenal was the horseback riding - again at our hotel - it's a huge ranch like property and there were horses everywhere, and cows up on the slopes. We had great fun for almost 3 hours with our guide. The trail was kind of tricky, lots of hills and rubble for the horses to stumble on but they had obviously done it before and were careful with their footing. We went through a river and up to a view point and just as we got there, the cloud lifted from the volcano just for us!! What perfect timing, you could wait a month and not see it at all, let alone to see it during this amazing horseback ride and get
photos. We were up so high in these fields I wanted to sing 'the hills are alive...with the sound of music' (only the horse could hear).
The only regret is we never saw the lava. We drove around to the active side of the mountain a few times but you can only see the red lava in the dark and every time we tried, it was socked in with cloud so we never saw it.
Next stop...the beach....and hands down the worst roads I have ever seen.
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