Day 8: In Arenal National Park

That is just our luck. 2 flat tires. Just when you least expect it!
Luckily, we were at the hotel still, and the chico from the front desk could communicate with the people from the rental company as they didn’t speak English!

2 hours later, and we were underway!
Walking in the Arenal National Park is generally nice as the volcano is big enough to provide scenic vistas all over the place. The entrance to the NP is, as seems to be the rule of thumb here in Costa Rica, $10 per person or a similar amount in Colones. No credit cards! Just cash.

The walk is really nice, and consists of two parts: the first takes you to several nice panoramic viewpoints, the second runs trough a forest and a big tree named ‘El Ceibo’. This part also gives you the best chances to see wildlife, like birds, small mammals and reptiles.

Today again was a really lovely day, with temperatures reaching well above 30 degrees, but again no rain! The rains only started to fall around half past 4 in the afternoon, giving us plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. But because of the high humidity and high temperatures, I’m running out of short pants and t-shirts faster then expected. Man, it is hot over here! 🙂

At 5, we are expected to be at a place called Ecotermales, where they have all natural hot springs in a few different baths ranging from hot to well over 40 degrees Celsius! Quite unexpectedly. This turned out to be a really nice experience, while I generally cannot stand being in swimming pools. The best part was that because of the low season for tourism over here, we basically had the place for ourselves. It was not nearly as crowded as it would be in a few months. Just great!

Tomorrow, we’ll be off to Monteverde, and we have heard many good things about that place. But first a 3.5 hour drive, and hopefully one without any more car issues…