Our first road side lunch is a success; while still a little unsure as to what are “sodas”, we stop at something a little bigger, with a buffet full of EVERYTHING. Julia opts for an empanada filled with black beans and happily dunks it in hot sauce, while Brice goes for his first full on casado. With full bellies, we continue our way towards the volcano. In the late afternoon, we arrive at our next hotel, an eco lodge surrounded by the jungle. The garden is filled with plants, trees, and flowers, birds, and butterflies. At night, the only sounds are the birds and insects. At sunset (around 18h) we are ready to go to sleep, but manage to enjoy a quick dinner surrounded by jungle sounds. What a place!
The next morning, we are awake at 4.30 and ready to start the day; even for early rising Costa Ricans, this is a bit early. We have to wait until 7 for breakfast.
After a hearty gallo pinto, we are on our way to the La Fortuna waterfall. The clouds fooled us into wearing long pants and sweaters – as soon as the sun comes out, the lower parts of the pants are zipped off and sweaters go in the backpack. The waterfall amazes us. The sounds of the jungle together with the water falling 75m is absolutely incredible. The ranger tells us that the water is around 16 degrees, so we skip the dip in the Laguna.
Climbing up the gazillion stairs from the waterfall towards the entrance shows us that indeed we are in a tropical climate. Sweat is dripping off our noses as we reach the top but we are ready to continue our day. Our next stop is the Mistico Hanging Bridges park. As we drive towards the park, the Arenal volcano slowly starts to come out of its cloud cover. Apparently it is not uncommon for visitors to never actually see the volcano, so we feel lucky. We miss the turn towards the park but because of that, we make our first wildlife encounter – a few coatis are hanging out at the roadside and let us take their picture from a distance, before disappearing into the forest. We reach the park around lunchtime and decide to have a bite at the park’s restaurant – the views on the volcano are spectacular and, a tiny cloud on top aside, it is now fully visible.
We are almost by ourselves in the park – the perks of travelling off season. During the 1.5h walk, we encounter only two families. The hanging bridges are impressive (not to say terrifying). We walk up to 45m above ground, looking down on crowns of trees, rivers, and waterfalls, and seeing the volcano in all its beauty. We find more coatis, who disperse in panic upon perceiving us. Lizards, birds, butterflies, and frogs cross our paths.
As the volcano is still visible in all its glory, we decide to attempt a third adventure and walk in an area called Arenal 1968, which promises more great views. We choose the long trail (5k), which we would come to regret. The highlight of the walk, besides the volcano views, is when monkeys drop feces, with Brice only missing the major splash by a few centimetres. Other than that, the walk is a bit monotonous for our taste, with challenging rocky bits that don’t really bring any reward. Doing it again, we would opt for the shorter walk (3km), which has the same result of volcano views. Just before the sun starts to go down, we are back at the car and happy with our very active day.
After dinner at the hotel (black bean soup, yum!), we try to stay awake past 20h but it’s not easy.
The next morning, it’s already time to say goodbye to our jungle home and drive northwest towards the Pacific coast.
Accommodation tip : Catarata Ecolodge
An awesome garden full of birds and colibris, a restaurant surrounded by jungle vegetation with really nice food, and a cosy room. What else ? We highly recommend this hotel, but it is preferable to have your own vehicle as it’s not in close walking distance to any restaurants, supermarkets, or attractions.
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