Another early morning to load all our gear onto the van and head out of the mountains of the Cloud Forest and off towards the Arunel Volcano and the Rainforest.
The road was rough and winding and there were moments I closed my eyes as we neared the drop off edge while we geared down around a bend. But somehow we made it to the rugged lane where we backed down to Lake Arunel – a man-made lake created when a hydro electric dam was built in 1979. Two groups of G-Adventure clients were ferried across the lake accompanied by a flock of Mangrove Swallows. The Arunel volcano came into view with the top shrouded in cloud.
Another van picked us up when we landed and trucked us off towards La Fortuna where it became obvious that it was Easter. Traffic around this popular holiday spot was horrendous. We eventually made it to an adventure company office where we were given a talk on a number of activities. The daring ones in the group chose white water rafting and canyoning and I chose a trip to the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge. Jan signed up for white water rafting.
Criss had told us there was a change in hotels but this new one offered free breakfast. It was a good little way out of town as well, but off we went. Our room is a bit spare but the hotel setting is lovely with quite a chorus of birds.
Next on the agenda was a trip to the volcano so we loaded onto the van and set out for the Arundel Ecological Park. We hiked up a trail that led to the bottom section of the lava flows that obliterated three villages and their inhabitants in 1968. From there we hiked down to the green lagoon which was actually very green from algae and minerals. Down in the lagoon we saw egrets, a couple of jacanas and a toucan.
From there we headed back to the van for a refreshing and delicious snack of fruit – banana, pineapple, mango and papaya. There were a number of birds to check out there as well then we piled into the van to head down to the banos (washrooms) to change into bathing suits and drive to the hotsprings.
The hotsprings were not quite as hot as I expected but they were certainly warm and loaded with people. It is basically a rock strewn creek with descending levels. Everyone was enjoying themselves and the atmosphere was lively.
After about an hour it was dark and we got back into the van, joining a very long line of vehicles crawling back to La Fortuna. A stop at a supermarket for people to pick up goodies for supper and we headed back to the hotel.
Jan and I had a beer each and some leftovers and bakery goods from Monteverde and we were happy.