Day 5: Night time is the right time...

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The geothermic activity at the Arenal Volcano means there is a plethora of naturally heated hot springs to enjoy in the area and many of the springs seem to have miraculously sprouted up on the grounds of a hotel! Amazing, I know. After a leisurely start to our day, we headed out to enjoy some and opted for one of the best reviewed that just happened to be in some pretty swank surroundings. Once inside, another miracle of nature..some of the springs had SWIM UP BARS attached to them. After testing a couple of the 25 pools on site, we settled on a quiet spot (“the Roman baths”) that had beautiful shade and water that, at 20 degrees celsius, was one of the least hot. It also had a cold plunge pool to cool down, and with the shade and breeze it was just perfect for a morning of comfortable lounging around....and then the next thing you know it’s creeping up on mid-afternoon. Why does doing nothing make time go by so fast?

We wrapped up the lounging (and just in time as the quiet nook we had all to ourselves was suddenly filling up with people). We had a yummy lunch in La Fortuna and headed back to our wee jungle bungalow before getting ready for our evening activity: night-time jungle walk.

You’re already jealous of how cool that would be, i know. (It *was* cool, btw). Our guide picked us up at our lodge and drove us to a nearby nature reserve with established trails. We saw many critters, both creepy and crawly. My favourite was the Jesus Christ lizard (so named because it can walk on water). I also loved the red eyed tree frog, armadillo and net making spider. Most dangerous was the poisonous cane toad. Toxin strong enough to kill a dog! Booooo! It was fun trudging through the rainforest with just each other and a flashlight. Not surprisingly it was crazy humid, so I was a hot mess by the end. It has been well worth it to go with a guide when critter seeking because I don’t think any of us would have spotted a single thing out there on our own. My favourite quote from the guide during this trek was during a particularly steep decent: “You can use the handrail, but look first before you touch it. You never know what could be on there”.

Next up: You guessed it! More critters...

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Photos

Sleeping bird
If you look in centre, there is a small brown bird tucked in for the night