870. Arenal Volcano

Where: La Fortuna, Costa Rica
When: June 21 - 23, 2009
With: Dave

The first big trip Dave and I ever took together as a couple was to the country of Costa Rica. It felt like such a huge leap to plan a week-long trip to Central America with this guy I just started dating, but look where we are now. Guess it all worked out.

For simplicity, we booked a trip called the Costa Rica Quest through GAP Adventures: 8 days, lots of planned activities, and a max of 12 people on the trip. With little planning needed once our flights were booked, we mostly spent the two months prior to the trip just getting excited and counting down the days.

We flew into San Jose and spent one day acclimating ourselves and just unwinding. The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise ready to go for our journey north to La Fortuna.

One thing I love about driving through a new country is seeing how different the concept of a "rest stop" is around the world. It's surprising to see the vast interpretation applied to "food" and "bathrooms".  In Costa Rica, bananas and pineapples were the rest stop food of choice.

Before reaching La Fortuna, we signed ourselves up for the first of the many adventure-filled activities of the trip: whitewater rafting. We left the bus and headed off into the jungle for a wild ride down El Rio Toro.

Armed with paddles and ready. 

After a brief demonstration, we got into our boats of six and started off into the water, one guide per boat. At first, it didn't look so bad. Where are the rapids??

We didn't have to wait long before they started coming...and coming. It's funny because even though they don't seem that large, they packed a punch. Luckily, the guide in the back of the boat knew how to steer us true. 

Sadly, every photo of me looks incredibly intense. And every one of Dave looks miserable. I promise, we had a great time. 

When a big drop was about to hit, the guide would yell "Oars up!", and we'd just lean back to let the wave take us down. 

This would also usually result in a lot of water in the boat and sliding out of seats. Even our guide would get tossed around, though he took it like a pro. 

Into some choppier waters. Again, Dave and I look thrilled. 

At one point in the river, the guide encouraged one of us to "ride the bull" (ironic because El Rio Toro translates to "Bull River"). One guy volunteered and got to ride in the front of the raft as we went careening down a rapid. Braver person than I...

...however, we had our time in the river when we nearly flipped on a rapid. Dave loves to point out that he didn't fall out so much as I pushed him out. I'd like to point out that I didn't have much of a choice. Observe the sequence of events, all caught on camera. 

Seriously, though. Dave had a blast. 

The time we spun in a circle on our stern and survived. 

At the end of the trip, we were let out of the boat to float down the river. Though not too far or, as the guide advised, we'd "end up in Nicaragua". 

To Nicaragua...

Proof we did have a good time. 

After towelling off and changing into drier clothes, we celebrated our successful adventure down El Rio with some Costa Rican beer, Pilsen.  

We got back on the van and started making our trek to the town of La Fortuna, where we had our first glimpse of Arenal Volcano looming in the distance. 

The town of La Fortuna is small, although anything would feel small sitting in the wake of this monster. This photo was brought to you by Alamo. 

No rest for the weary, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed off for a hike at the base of Arenal. The infamous cloud that typically covers the volcano settled in as the day came to a close. 

First things first: signing our lives away (for the second time that day).  It turns out our hike was in a lava zone and it was at our own risk we were down there in the event of an eruption. In case we thought this was overly cautious, the sign we passed on our way to the trailhead confirmed the warnings.

 

Ready for it:

With the blue skies and peaceful day, it's hard to believe this guy is one of the most active volcanos in the world.

As we descended into the jungle, we got our first glimpse of Costa Rican wildlife: monkeys! Swinging high over our heads, we saw lots of babies and moms. They blended well into the trees, and were sometimes hard to spot, but the moving branches gave them away pretty quickly. 

As we descended further into the forest, night seemed to set in fairly quickly as the heavy foliage blocked out the dwindling light. In such a short walk, we saw so many interesting plants and trees. It definitely felt like an adventure. 

After our trek, we gathered in a field in the dusk with a pristine view of Arenal's north side for sundowners (drinks + sunset = sundowners). Once the sun goes down, if you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the lava spewing out of the volcano in the dark. I don't know if the "lava" we claimed to see was real or just a result of the many drinks, but it was fun either way. 

Just because we didn't see any lava doesn't mean we couldn't reap the benefits of it. Arenal's base has several hotels and spas that built themselves around the thermal springs flowing from the volcano. The temperature of the springs varies based on how close they are to the core of the volcano: the closer, the hotter. All completely natural. 

The resort of choice to experience this phenomenon was Baldi Temple: part water park, part bar. We were sold when we saw the fat lady greeting us. 

Signs marked the estimated heat of each pool on the massive complex, allowing you to hop around depending on the type of experience you want: boiling or more boiling. Just kidding, there was actually a huge range of temperatures. Waterfalls overhead provided some refreshing relief. 

 Ah yes, there it is. The pool bar. 

Great way to relax after such a jampacked day. 

The next day, we woke to some great views of Arenal as the clouds had cleared from its peak. Steam was rising from its core and we could see just how alive this guy really is. 

Proximity of our hotel to the volcano...let's really hope it doesn't blow. 

Side note: that morning I had one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. The staple of rice and beans in Costa Rica was already becoming one of my favorite foods, and as a part of breakfast, it was just more of a good thing. Add cheese, avocado and fried plantains, and I was in heaven. 

I digress. Today's Arenal adventure was an activity that completely appealed to me, though less so to Dave and his slight unease of heights: waterfall rapelling! 

First, we got suited up with a harness, a helmet and gloves. 

Then we were carted out with our group into the jungle. No waterfalls to be seen yet.  

Another brief glimpse of Arenal, still steaming. Stay...quiet. 

From here, we descended down a trail into the jungle. Dave looks less than thrilled. Yay heights!

We got a brief demo of how to rapel down a waterfall from one of the guides. Basically, you just lean back and squeeze the rope with both hands. The tighter you grip, the slower you go. Seems easy enough. Let's add in a waterfall. 

We all started off down the trail...which was basically a stream. How could this little stream possibly turn into a waterfall? 

First things first: a test run, down a smaller waterfall, just to get the idea of rapelling. The funny thing was that this was one of the hardest as you were actually IN the waterfall, water pouring down on you and all. A guide would stand at the top and use his body to protect us from the flow of water, but just as we got our grip, he'd get a huge smirk on his face and move aside, releasing the rush of water. 

The first real rapel was...exhilirating. It's a serious trust exercise to just lean back and hope the rope has you. But the guides made us feel incredibly safe.   

The first one was hard to pay attention to as I was trying so hard to just focus on doing it correctly. 

Once at the bottom, we were unhooked and sent walking along the stream, climbing over rocks and boulders until the next rapel. During this time, Dave and I were completely alone in the jungle, or so it felt. Traipsing in six inches of water with the sounds of wildlife all around, I could easily imagine we were adventuring through the jungle completely on our own. 

A slight break in the journey came with a deep pool at the base of a tiny waterfall. The guides showed you how to scale the rocks on either side of the waterfall before cannonballing into the pool below. 

The final rapel was the big one, a couple hundred feet up. The height of this one meant a slight wait at the platform for people to make their way down. While Dave was less than thrilled with that wait ("let's just get this over with"), our GAP guide took the opportunity to bathe in a waterfall. 

I can't tell you how quickly Dave zoomed to the bottom of this waterfall. He wanted to be done. 

Once I was set up, I tried to enjoy the ride down. 

Afterwards, we could drench any remaining stress over the activity (ahem...Dave) under one final waterfall before heading back to dry land. Dave's freedom in this moment could only be equated to what Tim Robbins felt like in Shawshank Redemption.

That evening, after dinner, we took one more trip up to see Arenal by night. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, we actually saw MORE lava than the night before. Another excellent day. 

Our final day in Arenal. Again, we woke up to some beautiful views of the volcano. This time, we could actually see the tracks of lava carved into the sides of the cone. 

Instead of planes, trains and automobiles, our final Arenal activity was buses, boats and horses. We bussed over to the west side of the volcano where a boat took us to the far end of Arenal Lake. Despite the clouds, it was quite a view. 

On the other side, we met our new travel companions: our horses. We donned our oversized construction hats and climbed aboard a most stubborn group of horses for a lovely trot through the Costa Rican countryside.  

When I refer to our horses as being stubborn, I mostly mean that once they start moving, they really don't care what you ask them to do or where you ask them to go. They just walk. My horse, which I incorrectly thought was named Dialita (perhaps that's why she didn't answer me?), liked to just wander off the trail and eat. Dave's horse, on the other hand, decided to just stop walking at one point, buckling his knees to the ground and nearly throwing Dave off head first. We were quite the pair. Here are the partners in crime, taking their time for a drink in the river. Don't mind us. 

Despite some "wild" horses, the countryside was gorgeous. The landscape rising up around us was so lush and green that it seemed fake. 

My trusty steed. Goodbye, old friend. 

And with that, our time around Arenal was over, but I think we can say we took advantage of all the activities that are provided by this very active volcano. Excellent start to our trip in Costa Rica.