Driving to Monteverde

Leaving Arenal was bittersweet, but we were excited to head on to our next stop. We had plans for three night in another mountain town - Monteverde.

Our GPS had been giving us road suggestions that worked about 60% of the time. On our trip to Monteverde we must have taken a wrong turn, because we ended up driving on a beautiful road with rolling green hills for about an hour. We were so impressed by the road and really enjoyed the scenery... Until a local farmer stopped us and told us to turn around. Turns out we'd been driving on private property for a while without knowing it. Oops!

We planned to stay in two different hostels in Monteverde. Our first was a very quiet place Daniel (the Swiss guitarist) suggested to us. There was a nice kitchen that we had full access to, it was walking distance to the town itself, and Kyle was happy to have free wireless internet in our bedroom. I, on the other hand, was more excited about the hair dryer I found in the bathroom!

Zip-Lining in Arenal

We took advantage of the beautiful weather in Arenal and booked ourselves on a zip-lining tour! Since the town is up in the mountains, the zip-lines here are among the highest and fastest in the country.

We had an amazing view of Lake Arenal as we rode a gondola to the top of the first line - Can you see the roof of the main building at the bottom?

All hooked up and ready to go!

Kyle coming in for a landing.

Posing for a photo in front of Volcan Arenal.

Arenal

Once we finished our hike in Rincon de la Vierja National Park, we started our drive inland to Arenal, a tiny mountain town.

From our hostel, Essence Arenal, we had an absolutely amazing view of Lake Arenal and Volcan Arenal - An active volcano that was smoking almost the entire time we were there.

I was thrilled to see the pool! After swimming in the ocean salt water for so long, the pool was wonderful!

Every night at Essence Arenal, a chef comes in to cook dinner - With a twist. He and the staff cook the majority of the food, but each person who will be eating has to help with part of the meal. Our first night was Indian food night, and we all took turns making our own naan bread (as Kyle is demonstrating above). The second night was Mexican night, and we had spicy vegetarian salad in a taco bowl. So good!

A couple of the other tourists staying at the hostel were a middle-aged couple from Switzerland, who were travelling around the country just like we were. The husband, Daniel, brought his acoustic guitar and played music on the patio outside the bedrooms and in the common room each night after dinner. We ate dessert, drank wine and listened to him play classical guitar for hours. Kyle enjoyed it so much that he asked Daniel to send him a couple of his CD's when he got home from his holiday.

They had a full house at the hostel while we were there, and the room we were assigned had a lovely set of bunk beds. Kyle, always the gentleman, let me have the top bunk. What a wonderful husband I have!

We adored our stay in Arenal, and wished we could have stayed longer at the hostel. Essence Arenal is highly recommended by these newlyweds!

Rincon de la Vierja National Park - Day 2

We went back to Rincon de la Vierja National Park the next day to hike the second part of the park. We were a touch disappointed though, as the park was super busy - At one point we got stuck behind a group of school children, and had to sneak past them on the trail in order to get ahead.

The path we followed took us past a lot of volcanic mud pools which, while very interesting, smelled horrible. We didn't stay to check those out for too long.

There were tons of volcanic rocks on the path that had been there since the last time the volcano erupted.

We finally made it to the point on the map where a waterfall was listed - Kyle was disappointed to find it much to small for swimming, though he still got in to cool off after the long hike.

Rincon de la Vierja National Park - Day 1

We lazed around the Hotel Brasilito a little on our last day before heading out. We had planned to hike through Rincon de la Vierja National Park, and finally arrived after driving for a couple of hours along a road the GPS suggested, which took us past a garbage dump. Very romantic.

We arrived and managed to speak enough Spanish with the park ranger to pay our admission to the park and figure out a hiking route we wanted to take. I was pretty proud of us!

The park has two sections, but we decided to do one rather than both - Which turned out to be a great plan as the hike took us about 4 hours.

We stopped for a quick break at a waterfall along the path.

Kyle wanted to go for a dip, but the water level was too low.

We got to the end of the path and arrived at our destination - A hot spring pool heated from the nearby volcano. It was gorgeous and warm, though the smell was a little overwhelming.



We thought we'd camp overnight at the park, but the closest grocery store/restaurant being over an hours drive away changed our plans. We checked in at a local hotel instead, the Rinconcida Lodge, where we got our own cabin, private patio and delicious meals! So nice!

Brasilito

After leaving Samara (and a short stop at an outdoor market to pick up some cute souvenirs), we drove up the coast to our last stop on the ocean - Brasilito.

Our route took us past the international school Kimberly worked at for her co-op term a few years ago.

This is basically how we spent our two days in Brasilito - Lounging in hammocks, and enjoying at our last coastal spot.

Kyle spent a day scuba diving (which he booked entirely through a woman who spoke no English who was on the phone with her English-speaking husband - An impressive feat) while I walked along the beach and relaxed in a hammock to read Les Stroud's newest book.

The sunsets were beautiful!

Samara

We left Santa Teresa at 6:30am, headed to our next stop in Samara. The drive ahead of us wasn't a long one, but there was a point where we'd need to cross a river during low tide and there was a small window in which we could do so. During the trip we had to drive a portion of the way over an almost deserted beach - In hindsight, it was a really beautiful trip, but we were mostly concerned with the numerous signs we saw right before driving on the beach that said "DO NOT DRIVE ON THE BEACH."

This was one of the gorgeous spots we drove past on the trip

Samara is an adorable little beach town, full of tourists and surfers. When we arrived, we drove around for about an hour searching for the hostel where we'd booked a room. We even asked a few shop owners in town, and they hadn't heard of it. Finally we had the brilliant idea to ask at a surf school and they directed us to Casa Brian, which it turns out we'd already passed on our way into town.

After getting ourselves settled at Casa Brian, we headed straight for the beach. Kyle had a great time jumping in the waves.

We had a fabulous time at Casa Brian. Our host, Brian, is Canadian and we spent our first night hearing stories ranging from a small jail stint in Brampton and to sea fishing off the West coast, to raising his kids and his work with Marc Emery.

For our second day we had booked ourselves surfing lessons a short walk down the beach. Kyle did really, really well - Got up onto his feet and even turned a few times. I, on the other hand, had a very rough time with it. The combination of not being able to see (no glasses) and the rough waves knocking me off my feet and splashing me in the face were a recipe for a small panic attack. My surf teacher could tell and after a while said "Michelle, you're doing a great job, but this is your last wave" and sent me back to the beach.

Kyle enjoys a little beer on the beach after our surf lesson, and we went back to the hostel to relax in the many hammocks Brian has strung up around the place.

The sunsets in Samara were beautiful!

On our last night we had some drinks with the other Casa Brian residents - Pierre from Montreal, Lyndsay from Arkansas, and Brooke from Oklahoma. Brooke had been at Casa Brian for a month, and during that time had taken up fire dancing. She gave us a demonstration, which was amazing.

Posing for one last photo before heading up coast to our next stop!