Arenal Volcano

Time for another road-trip with the in-laws. Volcan Arenal (in Spanish) or the Arenal Volcano is probably the most talked about tourist destination in Costa Rica. Since it is so popular, I was expecting it to see busloads of gringos everywhere, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that, yet again, as with all of the other attractions we’ve visited this year, it was not overrun with tourists. (Perhaps one reason many of these places are not as busy as expected is because of the economy, but that’s only a guess.)

It is about a 2.5 hour drive from Atenas to Arenal, and the drive straight north from San Ramon was very picturesque. We drove through a lot of different types of terrain, from dairy cattle/ cheese making country to lush, untouched valleys to some commercial nurseries growing ferns and other plants for export. The typical winding roads of Costa Rica and the varied terrain made for a very enjoyable drive.

Once we arrived in the town of La Fortuna, which is the closest town to Arenal, it reminded me a little bit of the tourist town of Banff back home in Canada. There were quite a few little souvenir shops and restaurants (which were of course more expensive than what we’re used to back in Atenas), and lots of places to book tours/adventures. However, like Banff, you can dismiss the commercialism around you when you look at the scenery right down main street. The volcano is an almost perfect conical shape and looks like it was created on a Hollywood set, rather than by nature. Just a fantastic sight! We got lucky the first day as we got a clear view of the volcano in it’s entirety. The next 2 days we got a more typical view with the top covered in clouds.

We stayed at a great little resort right at the foot of the volcano called Los Lagos, which has thermal hot spring pools, as well as a bunch of cold pools with water slides for the kids, and some incredible grounds. There was an abundance of great jungle trees and plants with plenty of local bird, bug and lizard life to watch for. At various stops along the walking path, there was also little exhibits like butterflies, frogs, crocodiles, ants and turtles. The kids, especially Nathan, really enjoyed this, and made many trips per day to see them. There was one old croc who was blind in one eye, and only had one tooth left in his mouth. Nathan found out from his keeper that he was 70 years old.

Another real highlight was one day we saw a family of howler monkeys passing overhead. One had a baby on her back and they were going hand over hand over the zip-line cable. The group going down the zip-line had to wait till they all crossed over. It was cool to see.

Here’s the view from our front door:

 

A couple of the butterflies on display:

 

 

The grounds:

 

 

 

 

And even when we are no where near either coast, Nathan still manages to get too close to crocodiles.