We got up and ate breakfast at our house then hit the road to Arenal. We were expecting a 5 hour drive but it turned out to be about 6 hours. We crossed over some mountains in a cloud forest and visibility was terrible and the road was really curvy so that added a lot of time.
I was a little worried about getting lost. Did I mention there are no addresses in Costa Rica? We had the GPS coordinates of our AirBnB in Arenal but the owner said the route the GPS gives takes you on a very bad dirt road so he sent turn by turn directions. It was challenging comparing that to the way the GPS was taking us but we made it without any hitches. The road up to the AirBnB was what I would deem a very bad dirt road so I'm really curious what the "very bad" dirt road we didn't drive on was like!
On the way we stopped a vegan cafe to get coffee and take a break from driving. We didn't eat since I thought the AirBnB owner was going to have food ready for us but there was a miscommunication at he was making dinner for us later that night so we were all pretty hungry when we got there!
 |
| The horrible visibility on the way to Arenal. |
 |
| A cat at the vegan cafe on the way. |
The AirBnB in Arenal was definitely our favorite place in Costa Rica. The house was built recently and everything was new, modern and really well done. Of course once we got there I put on my bathing suit and got ready to jump in the pool but then it started POURING and didn't stop for the next 3 days! Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the time so we couldn't see the volcano.
 |
| Our AirBnB in Arenal |
Day 7-8
Despite the rain we had a wonderful time in Arenal. We went whitewater rafting the second day and the third day we went to the hanging bridges and Volcano Arenal National Park with a guide. She was wonderful and definitely pointed out lots of animals we wouldn't have seen and told us a lot about the area's history.
We didn't go to the hot springs in the area. After being in the rain all day we didn't really want to hang out in more water but there's so much to do in the area I would definitely go back and hopefully we can see the volcano this time!
Our favorite part of our stay was the delicious food that the owner, Paul, made. We ate breakfast and dinner there all three nights we were there. The food was amazing and much higher quality than we had anywhere else in Costa Rica. CiCi the cat was also a lovely perk. At breakfast, Paul would put fruit in the bird feeders and I loved seeing all the different birds. I think we saw more there in his yard than we did in the parks/hanging bridges with a guide!
 |
| Birds at breakfast! |
 |
| Dinner with CiCi. |
 |
| Skinny high five at the hanging bridges. |
 |
| An eyelash pit viper at the hanging bridges. |
 |
| At Arenal National Park... there's a volcano behind the clouds I think? |
 |
| My favorite bird in Costa Rica, the oropendola has a funny sounding call and bows when looking for a mate! We saw them at breakfast and in Arenal park. |
I don't have any pictures of whitewater rafting since I didn't take a camera with me but we had a great time. The rafting was relatively short and most of the harder rapids came first but it was still a lot of fun in the rain. After rafting the tour company took us to a farm where we had a great lunch of beans, rice and yuca. The grew coffee there was that also very good and we bought a pound. They grew sugar cane and gave us a shot of sugar can liquor which I warily took a shot of an was not surprised at how strong and intense it was!
No comments:
Post a Comment