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Published: February 8th 2023
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The bus from La Fortuna dropped us off at the bottom of the hill where a sign showed the way up to the
Lake Arenal Hotel and Brewery.The rain had stopped so we dragged our luggage up and over the hill. At the top the drizzle started again and a kindly American pulled up in his pick-up and offered us a ride. We had about 100m to go and politely declined as it would have taken just as long to get in and get out again! He had just parked up as we reached the entrance to the hotel!!
We were sold by this statement on the hotel's website: "As the nation’s first and most well-regarded artisanal brewery, we offer a wide range of ales, from our take on a classic Pale Ale all the way to our innovative Chili Beer. Here, visitors can sit back with their personal favorite of our artisanal beer selection, have a delicious meal, and feel the sounds of the jungle wash over them as they fall into the natural beauty of wild Costa Rica." Our initial impressions were hard to judge as the rain and low cloud obscured any view we might have had. We rested in our
room for a while as the journey had been quite arduous at times!
The fun started in the evening. We went to the bar and were given a free flight of beer to taste. This was included with our room. There were eight in total and we happily devoured them all! For Trish the Public Service IPA was the best, but for Russ it was the Lava Red Ale. Surprisingly the chilli-infused beer was only third on his list! We ordered delicious and healthy poke bowls - a first for us. They were superb and we washed them down with a pint of our chosen beer. Then we were met by Ian, his partner Maria and son Chris. Russ knows them through a chance online comment on a Brighton Facebook group. So we came all this way and met up with some fellow
Brighton fans. Even more incredible is that they spend quite a lot of time in Javea, Spain, just up the coast from us and are now fellow members of
Seagulls Over Spain so the terrible picture we took doesn't matter as there will be more opportunities in the future! We had a great evening and a couple more
beers were drank before they closed the bar late in the evening - 9pm!!!!!!
The next day we had glorious weather but the wind was still pretty fierce. That gave us a chance to do a circular walk around the hotel grounds, dairy farm and loop around to the lake. The swimming pool looks fabulous but there was no opportunity for us to use it because of the weather. It was a great walk though and we even spotted a toucan in the trees. The lake is quite spectacular too. Had the weather been better we would probably have spent a second night there and enjoyed the facilities, maybe even talking a kayak onto the lake too, but it wasn't to be.
Moving on was a bit challenging as it really is quite a remote location. We took a taxi, arranged by the hotel, to nearby Tilaran. From there we joined the masses at the bus station but luckily most were going to different places than us. We had a 25km journey to the town of Cañas where we changed onto a bus to Liberia, grabbing a delicious snack at the bus station while we waited. For Trish
it was the usual empanada but Russ tried something different - an enyucada. We hadn't seen this snack before and it was a deep fried ball of yucca with tender meat stuffed inside. Wonderful travellers fare.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
A free beer tasting
Now that's the way to enjoy life. You've got a good pace going now.