Day 6: Exploring the Arenal region 2
On our way back, we hit a traffic jam just before the hot springs caused by local families of Coati – which are cousins of the raccoons, with longer snouts and tails, and much cuter. We didn’t mind the slow down as we got to get out of the car and video them hopping all over the road.
For the afternoon we stopped at Baldi Hot Springs Hotel & Resort and purchased day passes to their spa & water park. This is a common offering at a resort alongside the volcano. Baldi has numerous pools at varying temperatures, from warm to hot (nothing too cold), as well as some elaborate water slides. Bars and drinks are available on-site as well. It was a relaxing afternoon and we observed other frum families on vacation for Yeshiva week relaxing here as well.
At the end of the stay, we headed back to the Airbnb to do some laundry and prepare for our big day ahead.
Day 7: Driving to and Exploring the Monteverde Cloud Forest
[WEDNESDAY] What on paper should be a very short drive, the actual drive from La Fortuna to Monteverde is longer than it seems. This is due to the need to circumvent almost the entirety of Lake Arenal, and a 1 lane-in-each-direction-road filled with lots of turns and switchbacks, that can bottleneck for a whole host of reasons. The good news is that there’s no shortage of beautiful sights along the way, including the volcano and the lake.As we approached Monteverde, the roads became very steep, with many potholes yet again, as we climbed up to the Cloud Forest. Eventually, we made it up to Monteverde – a quaint town filled with artists and nature lovers, and surprisingly, many Israelis. Another thing of note here was that the temperature here was much cooler than in the rest of Costa Rica. We were both in high elevation and under a forest canopy, so make sure to prepare for that temperature change. Nighttimes can be very chilly here as well.
Our first stop in town was the Original Canopy Tour – the original super long zip lining that is offered in a few places in the area. Before starting, we grabbed a drink in the cafe and watched hummingbirds float near our faces as we watched from the open-air cafe. As the program started, we began with a really high Tarzan Swing, and then hiked up into the forest for a series of zip lining, completely exhilarating, followed up by climbing really high into a hollowed-out tree, the likes of which I had never seen anywhere else in the world. Was a fantastic experience.
We didn’t have time to stop at our Airbnb, as we had a dusk appointment at Don Juan Tours, doing a combined 3-in-1 Coffee Bean, Chocolate/Cacao, and Night Walk tour. On this tour we learned how coffee is made from berry to cup, how coffee is made from the cacao pods to chocolate, we tasted some sugarcane fresh off the stalk, and we got to hike through the forest with only our flashlights, meeting lots of new insects, bright green frogs, and spotting 1 or 2 sloths. Fun was had by all.
We eventually made it to our unique forest-like Airbnb which perfectly encapsulated this unique place.
