We all slept well following the
previous night's spa experience and subsequent food coma. After
breakfast, we loaded back onto the bus and traveled a few minutes to a small
national park. It was established following the last major eruption of Mt.
Arenal back in 1968. It had been dormant for almost 400 years, but in
July of 1968, it has a major unexpected eruption. That incident wiped
away several small villages and killed upwards of 90 people. The volcano
remained active until 2010 but has been quiet since. On the drive to the park,
we passed a large field where we could see the obvious craters created by huge
boulders kicked up during that eruption. The rock was very sandy, so over
the proceeding 50+ years, the stone has washed away, but the craters remain
clearly visible.
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Saying Good-Bye to Our Hotel |
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| Field of Craters Created After 1968 Eruption of Mt. Arenal |
We were the first people to
arrive when the park opened, and we hiked about a mile along a jungle trail,
before continuing on a gravel road up to a shelter erected with a view over to
the volcano. Clouds had covered the summit ever since we arrive two days
earlier, and the same held this morning. The clouds were moving very rapidly,
and we had decent views, but nothing completely cloud free. Anna said
they, also, didn't get to see the summit during their earlier visit. Two
days later, Anna and I would see Mt. Arenal cloud-free, from the opposite side,
and we could even see steam rising from the crater!
We did not see a lot of
wildlife on our little hike, but we had admittedly been spoiled by all the
earlier boat and hiking tours. It was a longish walk, and several in our
group held back. We had two elderly ladies traveling as friends, from California.
We learned they were both in their early 80's, and in confidence learned that
one had a colostomy bag, and the other had had oral cancer 20 years ago and she
had an artificial lower jar. They were the nicest ladies and neither ever
asked for help. They tried to do all the activities, without fanfare or
complaint. They did accept help when offered, but never expected it, and
they both served as inspiration to the rest of us. The cancer survivor
was especially cute, and I would often walk with her, allowing her to hold my
arm and/or helping her across uneven surfaces. She kept telling Anna and
Katherine what I nice father/husband they have! Who am I to argue?
Speaking of that, I laugh, too, remembering a story K told me. I had
mentioned to someone that I just retired and that must have spread, as early in
the tour, a nice woman from Houston went up to K and whispered, "there is
a very nice man here who just retired from CIA! Can you
imagine?" K laughed, and then told her that she knew that man very
well! LOL
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| Mt. Arenal |
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| Our Tour Group |
After the hike, we reboarded
the bus and started a long and very picturesque drive around Arenal Lake, which
is a huge reservoir created to power a hydroelectric power plant. The
plant used to provide all of the electricity for Costa Rica when it opened but
has since been augmented by others across the country. We learned that
100 percent of Costa Rica's power comes from renewable energy -- hydro, solar,
and/or wind. They made the shift in the 1970's, in hopes of further
protecting the environment. We learned that by 1960, only 15% of the
country was forested. Vast tracts had been cleared for wood
exports. Progressive governments realized that it was not sustainable,
and the deforestation was taking a huge toll on their wildlife. Today,
Costa Rica represents 0.02% of the earth's surface but has 6% of the world's
biodiversity! Believe it or not, but that percentage used to be much
higher. Since 1960 more than 600 specifies of animals in Costa Rica have
disappeared. As for forestation, almost 80% of the country is now covered,
showing a huge improvement over the decades.
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| Cross the Spillway over Arenal Lake (and Hydroelectric Plant) |
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| Coati |
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| Coati |
As we circled the lake, we also
gained elevation and eventually crossed back over the continental divide to
reach the Pacific watershed. It became a very alpine-like environment,
and in fact there were multiple Swiss-looking chalets built along the
way. We had also seen lots of European tourists, to include a healthy
number of Germans. In one small town we transited, they had both an
Austrian and German bakery. Ironically, too, while we were in Tortuguero,
I received a message from a German cousin of mine, Jan. Turns out, he was
also in Costa Rica. He and his girlfriend had been in Limon (south of us)
for about a week. We would miss him in San Jose by only a few days!
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| Alpine Look Around Arenal Lake |
We stopped for lunch on our own
in a very small and tidy town along the way. We ate at a restaurant
recommended by Gio and discovered our favorite Costa Rican dish. It is
called Chifrijo and is a bowl of rice piled high with beans, chicharron (slow
cooked and then crispy fried pork), pico de gallo, and avocado. It was SO
tasty, and we searched it out several times later in our trip. It was
also during this lunch that the new of Alex Pretti's murder in Minneapolis
broke. They played the shooting over and over on the TV until we finally
had to shift our seats and stop watching. It brought home that we had
been isolated from so much of the ugliness at home, but then it came roaring
back in very unwelcome fashion.
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| Chifrijo! |
After topping off lunch with
some local ice cream, it was back on the bus for the final leg of our
journey. We were very high in the mountains now and it still looked very
alpine, with huge pastures for cattle. As the crow flies, we were very
close to our destination for the next two nights -- the town of Monteverde --
but the 10-km drive would take more than hour due to the very narrow and windy
road. The drive included the "Oh, My God" bridge, which was
aptly named. It comprised a WWII era portable bridge, a so-called Bailey
Bridge. It has been standing since the 1960's -- so much for
temporary! It was extremely narrow -- barely wide enough for the bus, and
the approach was so severe that our driver had to inch forward and backwards
upwards of a dozen times, until he was perfectly lined up to make a straight
shot across. On the other side, he had to do the same, to be able to make
another sharp turn and continue the drive. Parts of the road, too, were
being repaired, so huge stretches were one-way only, but with no way to control
traffic flow, we often came face to face with oncoming traffic. One car,
in fact, missed hitting us on a blind curve by only a few inches. We were
both going very slowly, but it was harrowing, nonetheless. Gio had kept
the front row of seats on the bus free this day, so anyone with motion sickness
could ride up front. A couple of folks sheepishly took him up on the
offer.
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| The "Oh, My God" Bridge |
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| Narrow Roads With Many Blind Corners |
We were all happy when we
started to hit the small town of Monteverde. The region was originally
settled by Quakers from the States, back in the 1950's. They came for
cattle ranching and dairy farming, and then branched out into tourism.
The elaborate and very fancy resort at which we stayed is still owned by one of
the original settler families. As such, English is predominant in the
area, and it is taught in all of the schools. Our guide for the beer tour
we were to take this evening (more to follow) spoke perfect, unaccented
English. When we all asked him from where he came, we were universally
surprised to hear he grew up in Monteverde. His perfect English was from
school.
Our lodging was the El Establo
resort, which covered an entire mountainside. It comprised dozens of
buildings built up the mountain, and as an idea of scale, it was a two-mile
drive from the entrance and reception area to reach our building, which was not
even at the very top. Each building was built into the mountainside, and
every room had an unobstructed view to the west, with clear views of the
Pacific Ocean about 60-70 miles away. It also meant we had perfect sunset
vistas.
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| Our Resort -- El Establo! |
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| Our Room With a View |
The resort was built with
sustainability and wildlife in mind, so there were large areas blocked off for
preservation, and lots of hiking trails. It was so much nicer than I
could have anticipated. We did not have too long to relax after settling
into the room, as I mentioned we were doing an optional microbrewery tour this
night. Only eight of us signed up, so it was an intimate and fun
crowd. We visited a local brewery started by an American expat about 10
years ago. We had a tour, from the aforementioned local with perfect
English, who showed us each step of the beer-making process. He was
enjoying some very high-alcohol-content beer during the tour, so he was in a very
loose mood. After that, we had dinner there, which included endless
rounds of each of their beers. It was so much, that we had to turn away
beer soon enough.
It was quite cool
and windy as we exited the brewery and walked a short distance to the
bus. Between the long drive and beer, we again were all ready for bed as
soon as we reached the room.
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