A short bus trip in a school type bus took us to Lake Arenal where we boarded a boat for the 45 min trip to the other side. This pleasant water crossing saved us 3 hours of winding roads. Julie ( our French Swiss new member ) was particularly grateful as she has been getting bus sick. She and her Canadian friend Lisa were still high from their canyoning and rappelling experience the day before. They were going in to town after we got to the hotel for zip lining through the forest. On the way to the lake we passed many glamorous thermal springs resorts and quad bike and other adventure options. I would have been eager to try a few myself once but I have done it before. I must be getting old! Costa Rica is focused on adventure sports so the demographic of tourists is much younger. My goal was to see the wild life not necessarily live the wild life this time.
Just before we arrived at the lake shore we saw a Coatimundi, a relative of the raccoon running beside the road. They are apparently attracted to the salt near the roads.
While crossing the lake we deviated to see a troop of monkeys in the trees near the shore. When we arrived the crew unloaded our bags but we then had to carry them or drag them through sand across a bridge to the waiting buses. It was tough for some. The wheelie bags don’t roll so well in sand!
Wind turbines lined the ridge
The road was gravel winding and hilly, affording glorious views of lush country and small dairy farms. You could be in Gippsland or the hinterland of Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland. Places look neat and well cared for. The towns are a bit shabby though we barely saw them on the way to the hotel. It was a lodge set in beautiful surroundings on the edge of a small cloud forest with a lake full of Koi fish.
It is an eco lodge and we could easily have had a rest day here just soaking in the birdsong and peace.
While Julie and Lisa went back to town for Ziplining we took off uphill for a walk to a viewpoint. It was hot but not too far. We were escorted by a sweet little dog who took us all the way to the look out and then escorted us back as far as her home.
After the walk to the viewpoint we did a quick walk within the small cloud forest of the lodge with Ronny who was a good bird spotter. Cloud forests are in decline due to climate change. A cloud forest has low hanging clouds which create a wet rainforest most of the time. Orchids are from these forests. The rangers told us that the sunny days are increasing rapidly and so the cloud forests will decline.
As we had elected to do a night walk we all went to dinner early to the Treetops restaurant. A fanciful bar restaurant built around a tree.
The cocktails were great, as was the pizza but our chef’s special was a quinoa salad with salmon ceviche, tasty and tiny! You can eat fairly cheaply at Soda restaurants but more ‘international’ places are much pricier.
Anne had an abortive attempt to get American dollars but it had run out so she had to get Colones only. It took us about 15 minutes to work out there were no dollars!
We gathered together to go on our night walk. In the end it was a bit underwhelming. What pressure on the guides! We saw a scorpion , tarantulas, green leaf insects, a sleeping monkey and several sleeping birds. The only mammal was the armadillo.
The bus back to the lodge was winding and bumpy and I was so tired having been awake since 4.30 am. I went straight to bed and slept soundly all night!
Our expectations of foraging animals and jaguars or ocelots were wildly un realistic. Jaguars are endangered and fairly rare to see. As my spirit animal I am desperate to see one but that is highly unlikely outside a zoo!
fleetfootkath 