It begins with:
Waking up at 4:00am to take a bus at 5:00am to San Jose, and a 6:00am bus ride in San Jose to La Fortuna, Arenal (which was 5hours). Here are some photos of Arenal in general (Monteverde and Arenal are now tied for first place in my favorite CR locations).
Arenal is of course known for this Volcano....
I mean really...just look at it!!
It's so humbling.
I loved this view of the church with
the Volcano Arenal in the background.
Perfect.
Lake Arenal
When we arrived to La Fortuna (the little town of Arenal) we headed straight to the Hostel. Our Hostel plays a HUGE role in our amazing time in Arenal. We see the sign sticking out from a little ally way and wonder what we've gotten ourselves into, when all of a sudden the ally leads to this super beautiful secluded hostel. We walk in and are greet by the Hostel owner and told that we can head to the bar for our free cocktail (Free cocktail? Bonus!). The cocktail was this tropical mango drink and it was AMAZING. Not only did we enjoy a free drink, but we also realized that the bar was connected to a pool. Yeah, this tiny secluded hostel had a swim up bar, Crazy.
The Hostel:
View of the Volcano from the Hostel!
Swim up bar...
See the hammocks?! Sweet!
The fun doesn't stop there with this great Hostel. That night we got back from kayaking (more coming about that soon) around 4:30pm, went to the grocery store, got back at 5:15pm, and then at 5:30pm the Hostel owner took some of the guests to a free visit to the hot springs river. By this time it was pitch black outside. We were all a little sketched out by the trip at first. We got "there", which was just the hostel guide parking on the side of the road, and were led to this pitch black path through the forrest. So we're still a little hesitant about this whole experience, but the hostel man was in good humor so we were a little more at ease with the situation. We get to this river and our hostel owner passes around candles for us all to light so we can finally see where we are at. We get them all lit and place them around the shallow water and a small waterfall. We're all just chilling in this ankle deep, hot water, when the guide starts joking about someone wanting to jump off the waterfall. I was like ooh yeaah sure I'll do it (expecting it to be a joke) and the hostel owner is like okay go sit on the edge of the waterfall. At this point I'm still thinking he's just messing with me and trying to freak me out (because literally you couldn't see a thing past the waterfall it was so dark. So I'm sitting there, thinking the joke is over, when he pushes me over the edge!!! I scream for my life, until I realize I can stand in the water...it only went up to my belly. After that everyones just jumping over this waterfall like it's no big deal, but of course I was the fool. Oh well.
The scene was so perfect though. The hostel owner set out more candles surrounding the bottom of the waterfall and it was just such a great experience. It was a very romantic setting, until the hostel owner started to hand out beer haha. The beer people had to pay for, but he also gave us a TON of free pineapple! My friends and I (4 of us in total) got an entire pineapple to ourselves. Let me remind you that this entire event, transportation and everything was completely free. So cool. After the hot river we head back to the Hostel, completely satisfied, and make some dinner while listening to people do karaoke. Then we got a free piece of cake. This entire Hostel experience was only $10 a night (we only were able to stay for one, but wanted to stay for the whole week!) The rooms were super clean with A/C, the showers super hot, we got free travel soap (which never happens in hostels), and free towel usage (which also never happens in hostels). So worth 10$.
At 1pm before the hot river two of my friends and I went Kayaking in the beautiful Lake Arenal:
We received an entire pineapple and watermelon to eat for a snack!
We also got to swim in this amazing lake!
It was so great.
The next morning we woke up super early to cook some breakfast and head to one of the most fantastic experiences I've had so far in CR. The secret swimming hole. So yeah, it's not really a secret anymore, but you do have to ask the locals where it is in order to find it. You have to take a path at the side of this bridge that leads down to this beautiful scene:
Jumping into this was the most thrilling, and exhilarating experience ever. It took me a bit to work up the courage to do it...but it was so amazing. Someone had tied a rope to the top of this huge tree and it was perfect for swinging into the water with.
Click here to watch the jump! I was clearly nervous.....The Rope Jump into the Watering Hole
After this super fun experience we finally met up with the rest of our group and program directors at the central park. No one came early but the four of us (which made it super easy for me to plan everything)., but now the rest of them really regret it after seeing all of the photos and videos. Anyways, we met up with them and headed to the Baldi Hot Springs Resort.
Photos:
The resort was really nice, very upscale and elegant. It had tons of hot pools, jacuzzis, a sauna, slides, and more. But after experiencing such amazing things just simply sitting in nature this place just didn't compare. It was great, don't get me wrong, but just so different. They were playing some great merengue and cumbia music too! We were served a great lunch, stayed for a little longer, and then headed home.
Here's two animals that I saw in Arenal!
This ends my day on Saturday. However, I didn't get to sleep in yet.
Sunday morning I woke up at 5:15am to leave a little after 6am for the 5k in San Jose. The race was sponsored by Mcdonalds and is in a lot of Latin American countries, it's pretty famous I guess. I actually met a woman who came all the way from Venezuela to run it! Anyways, it was so cool and I was driven to San Jose by my host sister because she volunteered to hand out the medals at the end. My friend Alannah went with me too! More photos:
The line to use the only bathroom available...
for 2,000 women haha
You can see that the women in front tore the tape already and are just holding it to make it seem like it's still intact.... I'm not kidding, Costa Ricans are SO serious about winning races.
That was my weekend! It was so perfect. I was so blessed to have experienced it.
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