We hire a
private guide for the day and meet Andre in the hotel lobby. Andre has a bachelor’s in Ecotourism, a
masters and three separate certificates allowing him to work as a tour guide. The government is very serious about the
ecotourism trade and keeps very high standards for anyone in the industry. It shows and is very much appreciated. Andre has us start out at the 1968 Lava
Flow.
In the
1500s, the volcano near what is now Arenal Lake erupted. The area was remote and sparsely inhabited by
indigenous people, but the accounts of the eruption did not survive the
generations. The activity long forgotten,
in the 1960s, the single peak of about 3500 feet was called simply Arenal Mountain. The area was a destination for its therapeutic
hot springs which ran about 80F. On July
27, 1968, the water temperature in the hot springs shot up to over 120F,
causing panic but no organized response.
On July 29th, the volcano erupted creating three new vents on
the western side. Over the next three
days the volcano buried three villages and dozens of lives were lost. The volcano remained very active until 2010
becoming a tourist attraction to watch the daily lava flows. Over those 30 some years, a second peak was
formed, now about 5500 feet high.
Today were
touring the jungle and hills that were formed by the lava flow. It’s the rainforest jungle of movie sets,
lush and dripping with furry vines and exotic plant life. It makes for a great hike and Andre makes the
flora and fauna even more interesting by telling us of their adaptations and
co-existence strategies. We add to our animal
image collection, photographing wild parrots, poisonous snakes (he was a little
guy, but still poisonous…) and more crazy varieties of birds.
Done the
hike, Andre asks us what we would like to do next. I suggest a local lunch, somewhere he
likes. On the way, we get to talking about
the good roads and the not so good roads.
He mentions a rugged short cut and asks “is this four wheel drive?”
“Yes, what
do you have in mind” I answer.
“Well, it
would involve driving across the river”
“I’m in”
Mandy looks
at me, you know, that way, but
already knows that resistance is futile.
We lunch at Amigos Restaurant, a “Soda”, the typical open air place found
in every small town serving traditional fare.
Casados is the go-to dish, a delicious plate of rice and beans served
with vegetables and local meats. Although
every Casado is different, its flavor signature is uniquely Costa Rican and
scrumptious. Leaving lunch we continue
bouncing down the dirt trail and arrive at the river. Mandy is thrilled. We hop out, plan our crossing, engage the 4WD
and plunge in. The first part is the
deepest, coming about half way up the doors.
The trick is to just keep going.
And we did. We come out the other
side, and U-bee after about a mile. No
pause this time, just straight in. We
loose purchase a couple times, jolted downstream a few feet but recover. Emerging back to dry dirt, Mandy finally allows
herself a breath and looks at me earnestly.
“So you’re pretty much an idiot”
“You knew
that going in” I smile back.
We bounce
back past the Soda, and turn onto a new dirt road, this one headed steeply
upward. We reach the Arenal Observatory
for our last hike. We’re not there for two
minutes when we spot a Keel Billed Toucan, complete with rainbow colored beak
of cereal box fame. Down the trail we stop
for a few minutes to watch a big red crested woodpecker plying his trade. We hike a big loop to a waterfall, hanging
bridge and ending up at the observation tower.
The observation tower was erected to keep an eye on that pesky volcano incase
it gets active again, but it’s the last place we’d want to be in the event of geological
activity. The tower is not much more
then a bunch of sections of steel scaffolding stacked on top of one another,
the 148 step structure held loosely in place with some steel guide wires. It starts to rain heavily as we get there but
we head up anyway. So worth it. The platform puts you about 30’ above the
canopy with sweeping views of the forest, the lake and of course, the
volcano.
It’s a great
way to end our time in this part of the country.
(click on the pictures to view full screen)
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