Costa Rica – Day 3 - Arenal

Another early morning wake up to transfer to our next location- Arenal. We took a taxi to the bus station, and asked several people where we could buy tickets and if we were in the right bus station. We got affirmative responses, however, apparently Ticos will tell you a wrong answer and respond positively even if they don’t know the answer! We were not at the right station or in the right line as we found out 20 minutes later. We took a taxi to the right station, got in another wrong line, but finally made it onto our bus to Arenal.

We stayed the Arenal Oasis Ecolodge in a rustic cabin. Esther was fascinated by domestic bunnies hopping around. I was fascinated by ants walking across paths carrying large leaf chunks.

Casado at Soda

Casado is a typical meal in Costa Rica of rice, beans, plantains, meat, and perhaps some salad or fruit. A soda is a family-run diner. They are everywhere in Costa Rica, and provide delicious and cheap meals. Everyone loved their meal at this soda. Amy’s eyes lit up when she tried her orange. “It tastes real!” she exclaimed. This is also where Leanne first discovered the glory of the Guanabana fruit. We first thought that the drink would be a combination of guava and banana. It turned out to be a white-ish color with a sweet flavor. Esther and Leanne’s casado also had a unidentifiable but delicious shredded meat/cabbage/orange colored pile.

Arenal Volcano

The main sight at our destination was the Arenal Volcano. We took a tour of the area, went to a viewpoint of the volcano, hiked through forest with monkeys and baby monkeys on their backs, birds, defensive plants that closed up when you touched them, and went to another viewpoint where we got to see sparks of lava coming out of the volcano.

Baldi Hot Springs

After the tour we went to the Baldi hot springs. We jumped into comfortably warm pools, stood under pounding warm waterfalls, and transitioned ourselves up to hotter pools. There was a pool so hot that I could only stick my hand in for 2-3 seconds before I had to pull it out. After the springs, we headed home all relaxed and ready for a good sleep.

As seen, we constantly woke up very early in Costa Rica to transfer to the next destination or to go on adventures. By the end of day 3 we felt like we had been there for a long time already!