We drove to Arenal Lake after Monteverde. Arenal Lake is located at the foot of Arenal Volcano and covers an area of about 80 km². We drove around the entire lake and had a beautiful view.
We discovered a German hotel with a restaurant while driving around. Of course, we stopped there and had delicious German food. Mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and bratwurst and red cabbage. It really tasted like home. And it was a nice change. Our first accommodation was the 'Essence Arenal'. The accommodation is located in the small town of El Castillo. The nearest larger city is La Fortuna. At Essence Arenal, you can rent small cabins or sleep in tents that are set up. Or you can bring your own tent. We slept in one of the pitched tents, which are all situated on a hill on bamboo stilts and have a small balcony. From here, you have a view of Arenal Volcano. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided here. We only booked breakfast. You can even cook for yourself here. They have a small kitchen outside. We cooked here in the evenings. In addition to the kitchen and the chill area, there is even a hot tub. We sat in it many evenings, hihi. We visited the 'Eco Zoo' in El Castillo. Here, there are many species of snakes, frogs, and insects. We took a guided tour through the 'zoo'. It was really great. We went during the day and saw everything. The guide invited us to come back in the evening. We could see the nocturnal animals then. So, we went back in the evening. That's when we had our first encounter with a 'free-roaming' snake. The Eco Zoo is in an open garden. Most of the animals here are free but choose to stay here. We were on a search for frogs when suddenly a small snake emerged from behind a bush. The guide immediately pulled us back. It could have been a venomous snake. But it was a false alarm. The snake was not dangerous. But in the first moment, it did startle us. Arenal Lake is known for its red-eyed leaf frog. Everyone knows this green frog with its red eyes, especially from postcards. I have never seen such a beautiful frog :D. We were totally fascinated. If you drive into La Fortuna, you will see the famous hot volcanic springs on the left side. I had never experienced anything like this before. Hot springs for relaxing. It was really warm, even hot in some places. But not hot enough to burn yourself. The nice thing is that it is still an attraction that is untouched. You don't have to pay anything. It's in nature. I'm curious to see when the time comes when you have to pay for it. In the evenings, the locals also come here and bring candles. It was really beautiful.We also had horseback riding on our to-do list. And El Castillo was perfect for that. We booked horseback riding through our accommodation. Our guide was really great. Very sympathetic. But honestly, everyone has been super friendly here in Costa Rica. Our horses were named Katrina and Apache. Our ride lasted 3 hours. Afterwards, our behinds hurt so much :D. The nice thing was that we did the ride alone with the guide and no one else was there. A loyal companion joined us, a dog that belonged to the guide. We rode up the mountains and had a wonderful view of Arenal Lake & the volcano from above. Up here, there were fields with several horses roaming around. The fields and horses belonged to our guide. Each time, a different horse was chosen for the ride. We really liked that. You could see that the horses were well taken care of here. We rode to a waterfall and took a long break there. The waterfall was really beautiful. And the horses could rest too. At Arenal Volcano, there is also the 'Arenal Volcano National Park'. Unfortunately, we had bad luck with the weather here. It was raining all the time. You could hike to an observation platform in the national park and see the volcano up close. However, all we saw was fog. That was a bit disappointing. But well, you can't control the weather. We also walked around a bit through the rainforest, but we quickly had enough because we were just drenched. We also went canoeing on Arenal Lake. Again, we rented a canoe through our accommodation. The canoe was brought to us at the lake. In the beginning, you state how long you want to go canoeing for, and then you're off. The nice thing was that you didn't need a guide here. We could paddle on the lake all by ourselves. We spent 3 hours on the lake. The lake is huge and it was really fun. You have a wonderful view of the volcano. We had another chance to take some close-up photos. In the end, you bring the canoe back to the shore. The guides will pick it up there at some point. If you like it touristy, you should definitely go to La Fortuna. Here, there are shops, restaurants, bars, and many tour offers.
Our time in the interior of the country came to an end. We then embarked on a journey towards the Caribbean side. More posts to follow :)
