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Arenal Volcano
With its tall symmetrical cone, Arenal Volcano is visually striking and presents the perfect image of what most people envision when they think of a volcano.
The last major eruption was in 1968, when it broke its dormant stage with a surprise explosion that buried three villages and killed 87 people. Up until 2010, visitors could witness almost daily lava flows or bursts of ash. Now, the volcano appears to be sleeping once again, but breathing hot steam to let us know it is still alive.
We spent four days in this area—hiking, zip-lining, volunteering at a wild animal rescue center, and crawling through some wet underground caves (full of bats and spiders). However, we would start and end each day at our “home base” at the foot of the volcano, which really enhanced our experience.
We chose to stay at the only hotel within the Arenal Volcano National Park—Arenal Observatory Lodge. It was originally built as a scientific research station for the Smithsonian Institute, and it is surrounded by 870 acres of primary rainforest, reforestation projects, and farmland. The hotel is far away from the masses of tourists who flock to this area. Getting to the hotel required a 15 minute drive on a washboard/potholed dirt road, but it was worth the effort. The setting was perfect for us—like a little slice of heaven.
The front of our room:
The tiled entrance wall:
The interior had two beds and a sitting area:
One of the best features of the room was the small patio area, where we spent a lot of time gazing at the volcano and just relaxing after our daily adventures.
Ben, with JoAnn and David on the patio next door:
Our rooms were tiered, so there was plenty of privacy when sitting outdoors. Here is a view looking down at the small yards outside our rooms:
I never grew tired of sitting outside and watching the changing cloud formations on top of the volcano. It was one of those “pinch me, is this real” experiences.
On our first morning, the sky was overcast, but the volcano was fully exposed—puffing out some steam over the front lip:
During the previous month, the volcano had been enveloped in dense clouds such that visitors couldn’t even tell where the volcano was located on all but two days! This month was very different, and we were getting a brilliant show!
Other views during our four days here:
Another reason why our back patio was such a great place to hang out was meeting our little friends—the coatis.
I had never seen a coati before, so this was pretty exciting! They would come and visit at least a few times a day. Obviously, they were used to getting food from guests (they weren’t coming for a chat!). As cute as they were, however, we never gave them a hand-out, as we knew that feeding wild animals was not in their best interests.
Sometimes, they got a little too close—like this little guy who peeked through the neighbor’s railing, spied me, and scooted down the wall to see if I had a treat for him:
Another critter who came to visit our room was a gecko that hung out in our bathroom for a few days:
Every morning, we enjoyed an abundance of fresh fruit, good coffee, and other items at the hotel’s free breakfast buffet:
While eating, we watched these Chestnut-Headed Oropendola enjoy their fresh fruit too:
At least one coati would be roaming around, sniffing for something to eat:
This couple was trying to get a good photo of the coati, and the man was enticing the coati to come closer by pretending that his thumb was something good to eat. Come and get it!
Heh, heh, heh--the joke was on him. The coati took a few sniffs and then promptly bit the man’s finger. Don’t mess with the wild animals, sir!
The first morning at Arenal, we went on the complimentary guided nature walk provided by the hotel after breakfast.
We started the hike by crossing a hanging bridge, which only allowed 5 people on at a time.
Genevieve and Sebastian:
JoAnn and David:
Even though we had taken the Hanging Bridges Tour yesterday, we still got excited about feeling the swaying motion under our feet.
Connecting with the Saino Trail, we got a great view of the volcano:
Our guide Christian said that only 40% of visitors actually see the volcano; the rest see a blanket of clouds. We felt so lucky!
Our hike took us through primary rainforest that had never been cut, as well as through secondary forest that had previously been cleared. One of the cleared sections had a large sign indicating that the area is still being used for volcano research:
A nearby breadfruit tree:
Primary rainforest:
Looking for wildlife:
One of the birds that Christian spotted was the Bareneck Umbrella Bird, which he had only seen 4 times in the past 9 years of guiding. Here is the bird through Christian’s telescope:
To be honest, I’m not a “bird person.” While I think they are pretty, my heart doesn’t start yammering when I see one. However, show me a monkey, snake, or big fat spider, and I’ll start dancing. (Alas, there was no dancing this morning . . . although it was still a pleasant hike.)
Out of all the brightly colored birds in Costa Rica, Christian thought it ironic that the national bird was a basic brown—the Clay-Colored Thrush:
We passed some hard-working leaf cutter ants:
Christian told us that all the leaf cutter ants we see are females, who work 24 hours a day. The male ants stay back at the nest and fertilize the eggs. The females take the leaf chunks and chew them; then the chewed pieces ferment and grow fungus, which the ants eat.
On to the waterfall:
The climb down to, and up from, the falls was steep:
The falls were beautiful, and we all enjoyed a light dusting of spray on our faces.
JoAnn:
Sebastian, climbing back up:
Christian was waiting for us back at the top:
Next came a hanging vine, which gave us a chance to play Tarzan:
Even David gave it a whirl!
The trail ahead:
Crossing the final hanging bridge, Danta Bridge:
The last stretch led us through an area with farm buildings:
The top of the volcano was now hidden in clouds:
An open air “Jungle Bus”, pulled by a tractor, brought us along a paved road back to the hotel:
Sebastian and Genevieve:
After I took the above photo, Genevieve announced, “Okay, now I get to take a picture of you and Daddy!” And so she did:
Genevieve and JoAnn, with the tiled mural in front of JoAnn and David's room:
There was one other hiking trail that Genevieve and I explored while the boys were playing at the pool.
Pool time:
The trail’s name was “Old Lava Trail”, and we envisioned walking across desolate black lava flows. (Ha! We should have read up on the trail first!)
The trail descended rapidly and was not maintained, although there were remnants of stairs indicating that it had been widely used in the past:
We reached a river, Agua Caliente (Hot Water), and there the trail ended.
We searched and searched for any signs that the trail continued on the other side. No luck. Back up the trail we went.
Even without the anticipated black lava, the jungle area was still fascinating, and we enjoyed the sights around us:
I will cover our other activities in the Arenal area in later stories. For now, I will leave you with one last photo of the volcano--this one taken from our airplane as we were leaving. The cone is completely free of clouds, and the volcano is shown in all its stark beauty:
Without a doubt, Arenal Volcano has a special place in our hearts.
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