Volcán Arenal and La Fortuna

The visit to Volcán Arenal area was way too short. It's a place with lots of visitors and rightfully so. Besides the beautiful landscapes, there are many hotsprings ranging from deluxe five-star spa resorts to one set of free undeveloped hot springs, The many hotsprings are heated underground by the recently active Volcan Arenal. I went in the evening to a beautiful set of pools, gardens, and cascading hot water called Ecotermales. Such a beautiful, relaxing, peaceful place. After a nice hike earlier in the afternoon, it felt great to soak for a couple hours.

The hike was at a private nature reserve called Mirador el Silencio. I hiked around in the rainforest and up to the lava flow from 1968. Interesting seeing the succession of plants on the blocky lava. Nice views of Arenal. Arenal erupted unexpectedly in 1968, destroying a town, and continued to erupt until 2010. My brother Tom was here in the 2000s and said he watched huge red lava boulders rolling down the side as he set in the hotsprings. How cool!

The night before coming to Arenal and La Fortuna I camped at a beautiful campground overlooking Lago Arenal and Volcán Arenal (Mirador La Armonía). It is owned by a very nice young couple. In the morning I went hiking and birdwatching up into the "rainbow forest", a stand of colorful Eucalyptus degluta full of birds including parrots, toucans, and woodpeckers.

While in La Fortuna I went into an art gallery just to check it out. I really liked the paintings by Gustavo Araya and ended up buying a painting of a toucan. The manager of the gallery is a very nice, cheerful, and friendly woman named Maria. She's was friends with the artis, who recently passed away. We visited for quite awhile about art, family (especially grandchildren), her artist friends, and her moving closer to her family. She used to have a gallery in San José, but the pandemic and loss of tourism hit her hard (as it did for many in Costa Rica).

I also met a very nice man, Rodrigo, who was admiring Hank in the parking lot of the hotsprings with his wife and cute 15-month-old baby. He is a civil engineer in Santa Ana and lives near the airport. He invited me to park the truck at his place while I fly home for Christmas. Talk about the kindness of strangers! He is also an overlander. He designed and built his own set up and loves to go camping and exploring his beautiful country. He reminds me of my son Zach and his good friend, the other Zach, in that they are very good at building things, as well as very friendly. Rodrigo gave me lots of great advice on what to see. I'm sure there will be more about Rodrigo in future blog posts.