Arenal to Monteverde
It's our last day at Arenal and one last item on the check list awaits... an early morning climb of the Observation Nest: a 28 metre viewing platform (just a set of metal stairs going straight up, held in place by wires) to get the best look of the volcano and nearby lake.
We get sidetracked by the local coati snooping around near our room and then the monkeys who are on their way back out to the jungle which is their daily routine.
Ok, no more delaying this, up we go. The whole structure is shaking and swaying as we go up but we manage to make it for some (very brief) sightseeing and photos.
Back down for one last breakfast at the lodge and we are checking out and on our way.
First stop is fairly close, we've booked a guided tour at Mistico Park which is a nature reserve with hanging bridges to get up in the canopy of the rain forest. They've only impacted 7% of the massive area to ensure its kept as natural as possible.
We start the tour with put guide Naza and an American couple from Virginia. It's a very well maintained path making is accessible for many people, with the forest untouched all around us. There are no guarantees with what you might see due to how big the place is, but we're hopeful. And the high and long hanging bridges shouldn't be too much of an issue after this mornings' desensitisation on the nest.
We're lucky enough to see an anteater fairly high up a tree (aparently they see them less than once a month) and some very well camouflaged and deadly snake.
We've been told there could be a surprise on the highest hanging bridge (over 50 metres high) and in the end its Courts who spots a little hand with 2 fingers/claws moving very slowly.
A sloth has decided to park up at the top of a tree right next to the bridge, so it's at eye level and only about 5 or 10 metres away. This was on our list for Costa Rica and we are pumped to have seen one relatively "in the wild".
We see a few more cool things as a bonus: a blue jeans frog, some crested owls and a helmet headed basilisk. The tour ends, our guide was great, we say goodbye and hit the road. We've got about 3 hours to Monteverde.
We stop at a small town on the other side of the massive Lake Arenal (man-made/extended and used for hydro-electricity, they actually flooded the two towns that were destroyed by the 1968 eruption). We order 2 typical CR dishes at a local soda and 2 iced lattes. The food was great, the coffee was terrible. Jeff's casado (rice, beans, fried egg, plantain, salad and chicken in sauce) was the dish of the trip so far, topped off with a bit of chilera - pickled vegetables and chili in vinegar.
Fun fact: Casado translates to "married", either to indicate its the married man's expected dinner when he gets home, or that the rice and beans are married together... you can choose which theory you prefer.
The roads from here to Monteverde take us up and over some mountains. The roads themselves are horednous. We spend a hour straight going about 40kmph dodging potholes that would swallow our car. Even the 4x4 in front of us is having a tough time. A fair bit of this road was gravel, and when there was bitumen it was actually worse because most of it had disappeared with the rain. I guess they're fighting a losing battle up here where they average 3 metres of a rain a year.
We arrive at our accommodation just past Santa Elana and it's much nicer than we were expecting. We have a little cabin to stay in surrounded by the forest and few little hiking trails on the property again. We start walking one of them at dusk but the forest is so thick it's very dark in there and decide to save it for the morning.
We head to a local soda for some similar style food as lunch. Jeff gets essentially the same dish but with beef instead of chicken. Courts gets chicken. We get another aztec soup and an empenanda for sides. The empenanda is as big as a bloody football and so we've gone completely overboard. We almost finish it all though and are escorted back to our car by a friendly dog before driving home in the rain.
