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Published: June 26th 2006
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Arenal Volcano
In all it's glory! Ahhhhh..... What a treat to return to Arenal this week. It wasn't exactly the trip that was originally planned but it was an awesome adventure. We had planned to visit Arenal with the Eury family. Their car wasn't out of the shop yet so the timing wasn't right for them. We'd already packed and cooked for the trip so we went anyway. We're all glad we did!
We had been wanting to get back to Baldi Hot Springs ever since our first visit months ago. The thermal waters do wonders for aching muscles. We'd had our own car issues the past month then dental visits that kept us from returning to Arenal sooner. When the opportunity arose we jumped at it.
We arrived in the town of La Fortuna around noon and for the first time drove around the town to see what it had to offer. We saw lots of in town rooming options, internet cafes, restaurants and sodas and many souvenir shops. Next it was off to find a hotel for ourselves. We wanted to try something different and drove out of town towards the volcano. We found many of the hotels listed prices and amenities on
Arenal Volcano emitting gases
Not trick photography just my ordinary kodak easy share camera. AWESOME! their signs. We saw a sign for $30 a night at Roca Negro and decided to check it out. Yep, $30 per night, no extra person or charge for the dog. The owner has five dogs of her own so count this one as pet friendly. The room had A/C, two double beds, cable TV and a view of Arenal. The gardens were beautiful.
Day one, Callista was very anxious to get done with lunch and head to the swimming pool. It’s the first time we’ve been swimming in one since we moved in January other than the thermal pools at Baldi on the last trip to Arenal. We swam the afternoon away and headed up to one of the viewing spots for the volcano before sunset. The clouds lifted and we got some great pics of the volcano. I’ve posted some here but for all the pics you’ll need to check out our webshots site http://community.webshots.com/user/jennifsh0701 .
Day two, we all woke early at 4:30 a.m. headed to Mus manni for coffee and pastries to eat as we drove towards Lake Arenal. We made a left at the lake just before the bridge and headed into the
Arenal Volcano night view
I zoomed in to get this shot. bosque to see what we could see. It wasn’t long after we were driving that we saw one, then two coati’s crossing the road and playing in the grass. They really are cute little creatures. The drive was beautiful with the sunrise shining thru all the trees. There is so much foliage that we never did actually see the sun rise. The forest is dense in the area. We ended up at the butterfly conservatory in El Castillo. I’ll post another blog entry on the butterfly conservatory as it warrants its own blog, too much info and too many pictures for this blog.
After the butterfly conservatory Callista was getting anxious to head to Baldi Hot Springs. We took Bear back to the hotel to rest for the day while we soaked in the healing waters. We bought our tickets for Baldi at the hotel and paid $17, the price at Baldi is $25. Tabacon, the high end resort and spa charges $50 for use of the thermal pools. We stayed at Baldi until evening then headed into town for souvenir shopping and dinner expecting to return to watch the volcano erupt while sitting in the pools at night.
Bill with blue morpho
Butterfly farm near Arenal. The rain started while we shopped and continued into the night. Both Callista and Bill were so exhausted at dinner that we agreed we didn’t need more relaxing in the hot springs. We returned to Roca Negro and turned in early.
The third and final day, Friday, we got up early, packed up and went out to breakfast at Bet-el a nearby restaurant. Good food and reasonable prices. Bill examined the map and planned our leisurely drive home. He likes to take different routes coming and going whenever possible. We like it because we get to see more places. We headed east out of La Fortuna towards Ciudad Quesada or San Carlos thru Aguas Zarcas. Our waitress that morning had told us of a zoo in Agua Zarcas so we headed there. La Marina Jardin Zoo is an awesome place. They take in confiscated illegal or abused animals and rehabilitate them. http://www.zoocostarica.com/welcome1.html
If you want to donate somewhere in Costa Rica this is a worthwhile project in my opinion. We saw so many animals, a baby otter, monkeys, crocodiles, tapir, javelina, birds, snakes etc. The price on the website says $8 per person we paid $5 for all three
Callista with sloth
Sloth at butterfly farm. of us, what a deal for all we saw.
Our return trip to Arenal Volcano was not the trip we had expected. The second visit had more to offer than our initial visit. We got to see the volcano erupt both during the day and at night, saw more animals than we had anticipated and visited new places on the spur of the moment. Life is good in Costa Rica!
Pura Vida,
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear
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Cyn
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So beautiful
How lucky you are to see all that. It is just beautiful.