On Friday, the 10th, we made the trek to Volcan Arenal. I think it was supposed to take 2.5 hours, but ended up taking closer to 4. Part of it was just because of the usual windy mountain roads, and getting stuck behind slow trucks. But part of it was the fault of Rita, our GPS. She was lying up a storm. Full on making up fake roads and then pretending like they were the right way. The funniest part of the day was when we ended up on some tiny dirt road at the top of mountain and stopped to ask for the directions. The lady looked at us like we were crazy and said, "Si...estan BIEN perdidos." (Yeah, you guys are REALLY lost.)
Luckily the drive was as gorgeous as ever, so getting lost wasn't too big of a deal.
This was the spot we stopped for lunch.
And this was the view out front. P.S. My camera has an automatic panoramic setting! Yay!
The sheep were so skinny and sickly looking, just like all the other livestock here.
I caved and got a burger. So boring, I know, but I just wasn't in the mood for comida tipica. And yes, those are Doritos. :) P.S. Hamburgers come with ham here.
When we finally got to the volcano, this is what we saw. Man, we just don't have the best luck with volcanoes.
After hiking around for awhile, it cleared up and we were able to see the volcano just fine. It was beautiful!
It was fun to see the smoke at the top, but we found out that the volcano hasn't been active for several months, so we wouldn't be able to see the lava flow when it got dark. Too bad. :(
I had to take a picture of these bright, royal blue berries that were all around. The color was so vibrant that it looked fake!
We tried to go on a tram ride overlooking the volcano, but it was ridiculously expensive, and would be getting dark before the tour ended. Too bad.
We ended the night at the base of the volcano at a place called Baldi Hot Springs. (We didn't bring our camera in, so the rest of these pictures are from Google.) There are dozens of hot springs, indoor and out, all different shapes, sizes, and temperatures.
It was such a nice way to relax and unwind after a day of car rides and rainy hikes. It was fun to explore all the different pools.
They would bring you drinks while you were in the pool, but not dinner - I was so sad!
My favorite were these little lounge chairs that were half in/half out of the water. I could have lied there all night if it wasn't for my growling stomach.
In addition to not bringing you food in the pools, they also made you put clothes on to go in the restaurant - bummer! So we got all dried off and dressed, and on our way up to the restaurant, we found even more pools that we hadn't seen - with stuff like caves...
and slides! What a fun place. Dinner was a buffet, and included the very thing I'd been craving all day - chocolate covered strawberries! I think I had fourths on those.
The drive home was not quite as bad, but still took us a good 3 - 3.5 hours. The good news is that we're getting a refund on the faulty GPS map that we bought before we came. :)
