Arenal Volcano
On Friday I worked from 6-1, which meant a 4.45 start to catch the bus but let me get away early enough that we could get to La Fortuna that evening. We checked into a great little hotel for only $7 a night and after our first hot shower in a week headed off to the nearby volcanic hot springs.
When we got there it all looked a bit unofficial. In pitch darkness we had to wend our way down a steep slope, get changed and jump into a pool of unknown size and current all by the light of a single Zippo. We were alone for about a very pleasant hour before a fat man in a thong turned up with what looked like 3 ladies of ill-repute and started putting candles on the rocks round the edge. Having thrown up a little in our mouths, we made our excuses and left for the nearest bar.
La Fortuna, Saturday
With our confidence and energy level boosted by a leisurely local breakfast of Gallo Pinto (mixed rice and beans), with plantain, sour cream and eggs, followed by toast with lemon jam we (well the schoolteachers who hadn’t been working on a building site all week…) decided on a hike up the volcano. We stopped in at the supermarket to stock up on drinks and snacks and got a taxi out to the Arenal National Park. Unfortunately the taxi driver decided to drop us at the outer gate rather than the inner gate which was a whole 7km farther up the road. With not much choice of transportation we set off to walk to the inner gate up the steep, unmade road.
About 500m later a friendly Californian pizza delivery guy pulled up alongside us in the most battle damaged Land Rover I’ve ever seen and drove us all the way to the inner gate and beyond, to the start of Cerro Chato trail.
Don’t lean against the door, you’ll fall out – John the Pizza Guy.
The trail up to the lake was more of a walk up a riverbed, traversing fallen logs and tangled tree roots. After an hour or so walking through the rain and mud I decided I was just trudging aimlessly through a rainforest rather than taking an enjoyable walk up a volcano so left the girls to it and turned back and bumped into some Mexican tourists who’d just reached the same conclusion. We all headed back together, ending up in a lodge with a bar and balcony from which we could view the entire lava side of the volcano.
Looking at this side of the volcano it was possible to see the frequent bursts of brown smoke spewing from the top, usually followed by one or more house-sized chunks of rock rolling down the side of the mountain. These were interspersed with puffs of white sulphur gas from all over the hillside, of which you could occasionally catch a whiff on the wind (or that’s what I told people anyway. Beans for breakfast…). This was all taking place to a soundtrack provided by a Mexican Aerosmith cover band. Was going to attempt a Rock and Roll joke, but felt ashamed.
Managed to spend a really enjoyable three or four hours here, firstly chatting to the Mexicans, then some Austrians, some Dutch and finally a lovely American couple there to photograph the wildlife. The Americans then gave us a lift all the way back to La Fortuna in their air conditioned 4×4 – far preferable to a taxi. Locals and tourists alike seem to take very kindly to those who say they’re volunteering in a country, giving lifts, buying drinks, all very friendly.
Arriving back in town we found a local festival in full swing, with a selection of live bands and a number of the local restaurants and resorts having stalls selling their best snack foods. Dinner consisted of more roast plantain topped with sour cream, followed by empanadas and a sour cream dip, and ending with a corn pancake with some tasty sour cream for a change.
La Fortuna, Sunday
Gently awoke to the sounds of screams when one of the girls noticed a huge dead bug stuck in the ceiling fan. No idea what it was but it looked about the size of a decent sausage with wings. This at least got them out of bed a bit quicker so we could head off for a good breakfast. Having dropped two belt sizes in just the first week of digging I had decided to treat myself so went for the Super Tipico, which is every sort of Costa Rican breakfast item on a plate, plus a side order of pancakes and some chocolate milk. Feeling a bit sluggish we then wandered round the local shops, picking up a few items of clothing and booking one of the many canopy tours on offer.
A canopy tour is a series of zip wires, or death slides depending on your point of view, passing from treetop to treetop. There are a number to choose from, the longest being 150m off the ground and just short of 1km long. You’re tooled up with a harness, a pulley and a braking glove -a loose fitting leather pad that you use to slow yourself before hitting a tree. After a long safety briefing you get a quick practical lesson before setting off around the rainforest at speeds of up to 70km per hour. You can be strapped in by the traditional hanging on for dear life style, go upside down or be strapped in between the instructor’s legs to go superman style. Obviously the instructors are much keener to get the girls to go in the superman style, so I stuck to the faster hanging style and one go at inverted, which was just plain wrong.
Following a wander round a leaf cutter ant display we saw some butterflies and crocodiles before retiring to another series of hot pools for drinks and dinner.
Sadly it was now time to make the two hour trip home, which felt like the end of a holiday as we all had to go back to work in San Ramon the next day.
