Nemo James

2012 Costa Rica – Arenal

17th January
We made an early start for the long drive to Arenal in the centre of Costa Rica at 1600 metres. We were dreading the drive as although it wasn’t that far, we were told it took around eight hours because of the bad roads and slow-moving vehicles. It wasn’t too bad although for the last 50 miles there were a lot of juggernauts taking freshly picked bananas away for export. They were only small country lanes so no thought had been given to the transport infrastructure and at one point we had to wait for ages while a juggernaut negotiated a sharp hairpin bend with only inches to spare.

Hotel Arenal Lodge was part of a national park, five miles up a very steep road. It had a perfect view of the volcano which was the main attraction in that area. At night you were supposed to be able to see the red lava flowing out of the top of the mountain but it was nearly always covered in cloud. The tourist board conveniently forgot to mention that the volcano had not been active for over a year so there was no chance of seeing lava anyway. It was still a fantastic place and well worth a visit. We booked a superior room in an outbuilding but although it was a good room, there was an overpowering smell of dampness so we upgraded to a room in the main building which was much better. We sat on our balcony taking in the magnificent view when a parrot came and sat on the railings next to us. We found out that the parrot’s name was Estefania and she was part of the hotel, always showed up at mealtimes. We also saw a coati, which was about the size of a fox with a long nose. Apart from the animals, there was an abundance of brightly coloured birds which we attracted onto our balcony with some scraps of bread.

The next day we spent at the thermal spring, which was part of the Hotel Tabacon Grand, listed as one of the best hotels in the world. We booked a package which included lunch and dinner and unlimited use of the facilities. Hot thermal water flowed from high up at the top of the hotel grounds into lots of separate pools below, so each one felt like our own private mountain pool surrounded by lush vegetation. The water was very hot and once I had submerged myself I lost every ounce of energy from my body and lay there in a state of total relaxation. We went from pool to pool all day and as each one filled the other they created small waterfalls you could sit under to receive a vigorous massage.

On our last day in Arenal we started with a two-hour walk around the hotel grounds with a guide. The plan was for him to show us some of the many animals and birds that inhabited the area but the most exciting thing we saw was a squirrel. He did show us a tarantula’s nest but the horrible thing was deep inside which was just as well as Federika was terrified of them.

He also showed us an amazing green frog that he let crawl over him.

At the end of the tour he showed us some snakes in cages that were only small but capable of killing someone in minutes, in a particularly gruesome manner He also took us on a horse-riding tour that was included in the hotel package. I had been horse riding a couple of times but still had no idea what I was doing. Fortunately, my horse was an automatic so it just copied what the other horses were doing.

In the afternoon we went on a two-hour river cruise in a small rubber boat. It was a private tour so we had an excellent guide to ourselves. At first, it was thick jungle but then we joined another river which was much more open. We saw some monkeys, a sloth, and a crocodile. We enjoyed it so much that we vowed to one day go camping in a place like that. I was determined to live off the land, sleep under the stars and maybe even grapple with wild bears.

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