Day 46 PART I: Hot Springs + Volcano = Very Cool

La Fortuna church (where a drug dealer told Mike he could find him any day of the week)

Eco Termales' pools

Best waiter ever Jeffrey making traditional sock coffee for Matt

45 days in Costa Rica = Mike
1 day in Costa Rica = Matt

The long awaited peek at the peak

A quiet dark room with a cozy bed kept us asleep all of two minutes later than our nor mal 5:30am wake up call. Let me just say, this is ridiculous. This is the only time in my life that I’m actually able to sleep in for three months and I physically can’t. I’m all for getting up early to get the most of your day, but really…7:30am would do. There’s nothing I do in those couple of hours that contribute anything worthwhile to my day.


Of course, as with most of our adventures, seeing the volcano didn’t come easy. It was drizzling and dreary this morning which made visibility hopeless, so we decided to hit up the local hot springs first with a trip to Eco Termales. It’s the least expensive and smallest of the thermal pools in the area and was the absolute best thing we could’ve done in the rain. We couldn’t hike, we couldn’t see the volcano and we didn’t want to slosh around the town. We’d be getting wet anyways so why not have it be with naturally steaming hot water? For the first hour and a half, we had four hot pools all to ourselves until a Dutch couple joined us for the final half hour. At times it poured on us, at times it misted and the moment the sun peeked at us, we left so we could catch a glimpse of the volcano. It was a perfect combination of relaxation and recreation and checked one more thing off our to-do list.

Getting a clear shot of Volcan Arenal wasn’t that simple, but as we drove closer we got to see the base which was more than the tree lined mountains we saw before. Since we were hungry from a stressful morning of laying around in pool baths, we decided to eat at local joint, Restaurante Cascajos. As soon as you enter the town of La Fortuna, practically every hotel, restaurant and toilet, claims to have the best view of the volcano. Most are lying. But this restaurant, that didn’t claim to have the best anything had the best everything: food, view, waiter and atmosphere. We had front row seats for the volcano’s anticipated appearance, one of the best casados we’ve yet to devour, and Matt got to try his first Costa Rican sock coffee brewed right at the table. The clouds teased us the entire time with clear blue skies hugged both sides of the volcano but kept the peak hidden behind a thick layer of fog that threatened to stick around. About a half hour after we ate our last bites, the clouds didn’t vanish but became transparent enough to see the plateau-ed peak of the volcano. To be honest, it was nice getting to see it after the journey we had, but the wait was better than the moment. Our waiter not only treated us well, entertained us with jokes and said a prayer for us to get a glimpse of the volcano, he gave each of us a business card and a hug when we left. If you ever go there, refuse to be served by anyone other than Jeffrey.

See active volcano, check. Next up? Don’t know (if you haven’t guessed, we were winging it). But I had read that Monteverde was one of the best places to visit for ziplining and that was still on our to-do list. It was also jam packed with other interesting things to do so we began a very serene, peaceful, pretty drive around the lagoon that lead to the most stressful drive we’ve yet to experience.