July 9, 2021 (Teri)
Our driver, Steven, picked us up at 8:00 a.m. We tried to get private drivers for every part of our trip but it wasn’t possible for the trip from Monteverde to Arenal Lake dock.
We stopped two times to pick up a total of 7 other people along the way.
Because this area is so mountainous, there isn’t a direct route between Monteverde and Arenal. By road it's 66 miles between Monteverde and Arenal. The drive winds around Lake Arenal and through the town of Tilarán, and takes upwards of 4 hours with a 4x4 vehicle. By bus, it’s 8 hours. Taking the “Jeep-Boat-Jeep” transfer takes only 2.5 hours.
We opted for the Jeep-Boat-Jeep transfer!
The drive from our hotel in Monteverde to the dock at Lake Arenal took 1 hour 20 minutes.
We had several muddy, iffy, crossings!
The boat was supposed to arrive in about 15 minutes after we got to the dock but we ended up waiting 40 minutes.
The incoming boat was packed but there were only about 20 people on our ride back across the lake.
The trip across Lake Arenal was 40 minutes. The scenery was beautiful.
We could see Arenal volcano in the distance and that was where we were heading.
As we got closer to the shore we came across these unusual bicycle floats that were for rent.
The yellow van is for us. The drive to the Lodge was about 15 minutes.
When we got to the reception desk we were told our room wasn’t ready. It was only 11 a.m.
It wasn’t long before someone came to get us to check in.
We were given wrist bands to wear while at the lodge.
7/9/2021 (Mark) – Our “Jeep-Boat-Jeep” transfer left the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde at 8:00. Our driver told us that we’d be adding 7 additional folks, and we picked up a family of four (two kids) and three British girls, and headed up and then down toward Lake Arenal. The final miles of the road were narrow, muddy and slippery, and the driver was having a time getting up a few of the hills. We weren’t sure if we were going to get there or not, but we made it! At the water’s edge we were surprised to see several other vans and a couple of dozen people. Apparently this is a popular way to get to La Fortuna.
We
waited around for about 40 minutes, birdwatching while kids threw rocks in the
lake and other folks chatted. We had several Swallow-tailed Kites flying low
over the marsh, a few Muscovy Ducks flying by, and a variety of other birds. We
finally heard a boat coming, and it was packed with people and luggage. They
beached the front of the boat and folks started piling out. Once all of the
luggage was unloaded, they loaded our luggage and we made our way onto the
boat. We only had about a third as many people heading to La Fortuna as they
had brought to Monteverde.
It was very windy and the lake was choppy, but they took it slow and the ride was smooth. We arrived at the other end of the lake, disembarked, and found that we had our own driver and vehicle for the trip to the Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge. It was very muddy and slick getting out on this side as well, and we once again wondered if we’d make it, but we did.
We arrived at Arenal in about 20 minutes, where they told us that our room wasn’t quite ready. We stowed our luggage, but they immediately came to tell us that the room was ready. We headed to Room 10A to find that it was about a third the size of the room we’d stayed in in 2017, with a tiny back patio and pretty much nowhere to work on the computer or place suitcases. I went to the desk to ask if this was a Smithsonian Room (which we had requested) and they said it was. They said that Smithsonian only means a view of the volcano, and not the size of the room. I described the room we’d stayed in before, and they said that was a Terrace Smithsonian Room, and none were available for the three nights we’d be there. We were disappointed but unpacked and headed out for a little birding in the gardens around the rooms.
(Teri) We had remembered the food here was quite good. The menu is small but everything we tried was delicious.
For lunch we shared pumpkin soup. I had chicken and rice and Mark had chicken fajitas. We were very happy to see that they had Coke Zero!
Lake Arenal is in the distance. We had docked there just a couple of hours ago!
The volcano always seems to have clouds surrounding it.
After lunch we had a nice walk around the grounds.
A new addition to the Lodge since 2017 is this 92-foot-tall observatory tower. Mark walked part way up. I didn’t even try getting up all those stairs!
We walked down to the frog pond.
We didn’t see any frogs but we did find an Eyelash Viper.
(Mark) It was raining off and on, sometimes quite hard, but we managed to stay dry and found a nice variety of birds. They are still operating their fruit feeding “pole” and we saw several birds on and below it.
We had a nice dinner in the restaurant, where we ordered off of a smallish but good menu. Desert was included and I had Coconut Flan, which was delicious. I’m pretty sure that I had it every night in 2017, and it would become the theme for this trip as well. Teri had a rich chocolate ice cream which was very good.
We were back in the room after dinner when Joan from Costa Rica Focus checked in on WhatsApp. I told her that we were surprised at how small the room was, and she got in touch with the hotel. She told me to go to the front desk and they would show me another room. Turns out the “other room” was Room 33, the room that Rick and Sharon had in 2017, and exactly what I had asked for. So, we gathered up our stuff and made a quick shift to the new room. So much better with a huge back terrace, three times the space in the room, and a large front patio area as well. And, not as far down the hill from the restaurant and reception, so easier on Teri’s knee!
(Teri) Our dinner reservations were for 6 p.m. It gets dark at 6:30! After dinner we sat around our room until about 9 p.m. when Mark and our travel agent got us into the room we wanted. Room #33 is next door to the room we had in 2017 and was much larger.
Next time: Rain, birds, rain, rain, rain
Coconut flan sounds delicious, but probably not worth being in the vicinity of vipers for me! Good to know "friends" in high places to get your room resolved. Another good reason to stick with this new agent.
ReplyDeleteHe was just a baby viper! We will definitely stay with the new agent. They were on top of things and quick to respond.
DeleteThe meals look great and the bigger room sounds nice. I like how you let them know what you want and expect since you went to a lot of expense to drop some dollars there. Clearly, the room was empty anyway since you could move right away. Disappointing they didn’t move you on their own without your agent having to help out, but all was well in the end I suppose.
ReplyDeleteEvery meal we had was wonderful. I don’t know why they didn’t give us the larger room when we asked but everything turned out okay in the end and we were satisfied. We would stay there again.
Delete