Pura Vida! The Adventure Continues…
My time in Nosara was magical but the time had come to explore deeper into Costa Rica. Our driver Victor picked us up around noon to start the trek to La Fortuna. This was not a road trip on the interstates or country roads of the U.S., this was a bumpy, windy(“wine-dy”),unpaved, dusty, beautifully scenic, awe-inspiring, long roadtrip from the western coast of Costa Rica to the northern highlands of the country. Our 5 hour journey took us through little towns and lush landscapes and unveiled the diverse country of Costa Rica. Along the way Victor stopped at one of his favorite locations for lunch perched high above the spectacular Lake Arenal. Lake Arenal is the largest lake in Costa Rica at 33 square miles. It is man made and was expanded in 1979 which required the old town of Arenal to be relocated to higher ground. The old town now lies abandoned at the bottom of the lake. The restaurant we stopped to have lunch was Tinajas Arenal and the views were amazing!!! Mother Nature treated us with a very strong rainstorm as we sat on the covered patio overlooking the lake. I can’t remember the last time I experienced rain so intense and it was absolutely hypnotic! We enjoyed our lunch and of course cerveza with Victor and it was heart warming to hear him talk with such fondness for his family. After the storm passed we were back on the road winding around cliff top roads while avoiding the occasional group of coatimundis. They are cute as can be but obviously not the wisest as they seem to enjoy living life on the edge….the edge of the road that is. We saw several groups of them as well as an occasional howler monkey in the trees. After about another hour we saw it, not from a distance as we had enroute but within close proximity. It being the absolutely majestic Arenal Volcano. The volcano rises 5358 feet above the ground with a crater of 460 feet in diameter. I don’t know where it ranks in size of volcanos in the world but to these two blue eyes, it was huge! The last eruption lasted from 1968-2010, dormant since 2010. We were blessed that all 5 days we were in La Fortuna we saw the volcano everyday. We were told many times people come for a week or more and never see the entire volcano due to the tropical clouds. “La Fortuna” is Spanish for “The Fortune”, and aptly named due to it’s extremely fertile land. There is a myth that it was named because of the town being spared from Arenal volcano’s eruptions, but the town actually got its name before the latest eruption cycle and was named for the fertile lands (“The Fortune”).
In total awe we pulled into the front of our home for the next 5 nights, Amor Arenal. I was absolutely en amor with this rustic, lush, quiet piece of paradise at the base of the Arenal volcano. We were only a couple miles but worlds away from the hustle and bustle of town.The lovely people that checked us in and escorted us to our casita could not of been sweeter and more accomodating….the homemade cookies and cocktails were quite nice as well. We were in casita 21 and it was heaven. The room was large with high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and Costa Rican wood engulfing it. The casitas do not have any window treatments which at first I was taken back by….what about privacy? I quickly discovered though the only thing I had to worry about peering in the windows were insects, reptiles or 4 legged peeping Toms. Sitting next to both of our pillows was a black out sleeping mask…I swear the first morning I took that off I thought I was going to be blinded with the bright sun shining through the walls of windows. The upside to this though was falling asleep at night, I do not know if I ever experienced a heavier blanket of stars in my life…it was pure tranquility drifting off to sleep. There was a lovely private patio with a hot tub (which also was great for star gazing) and 2 Adirondack chairs. It was surreal to sit out in my robe sipping my morning coffee and being mesmerized by the very slow moving clouds eventually making way to the excitement of the volcano viewing. The room was beautiful but the shower might of been my absolute favorite part. The shower was huge!!! Literally you could easily host a shower party with 10 people! It was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows with a spectacular view of the volcano that I felt I could almost reach out and touch. The absolute only thing between us and the volcano was lush jungle. One time when I was in the shower a toucan flew by and perched himself on a tree, it was by far the best shower I have ever taken in my life.
Our casita was situated a fair distance from the pool and restaurant so although there was a gym it wasn’t necessary as the cobblestone path was quite steep that we took several times a day. One of the pools was fed by natural spring water and was quite warm, while the other one, not fed by the spring was freezing! Luckily the swim up bar was in the warm pool. The restaurant had a spectacular view of the volcano as well and it helped mask the fact that the food didn’t quite stand up to the rest of the resort’s luxury…..the margaritas were delicious though, and let’s face it, that’s most important.
We went into town for dinner the first night we were there and unfortunately Joe got food poisoning. He was pretty much down for the count almost 2 days. So what is a good girlfriend to do? I ordered him room service and off I went to enjoy the day. Had breakfast gazing at the volcano, took a 3 mile hike into the jungle (which, I started to question as I was literally in the middle of the jungle with no other soul in sight), sipped drinks in coconuts in the hot spring pool, chatted with a lovely couple from Colorado and THEN….had hands down the best massage of my life!!! I quickly got over the vacant massage table next to me that was suppose to have Joe on it and lost myself in the sounds of the jungle and the gentle, warm breeze that danced through the open air massage treehouse. It was a beautiful day and ended with room service and watching Sweet Magnolias on Netflix while Joe slept. The next day he was feeling a bit better and was able to stay vertical. I did postpone our repelling excursion to the next day though as I didn’t think his stomach was quite ready for that. We went to town and walked around, I ate lunch while Joe watched and then we searched out a farmacia for Joe to get medicine. He is much more trusting than I as he just popped the pills they gave him after he did his best to say what was wrong, but they helped! We ended our time in town with a tour of a cacao factory. It had the perk of endless samples and with Joe still not feeling great I was obligated to eat his samples too:) Joe was much better the third day so off we went on our excursion. We went waterfall repelling deep in the rainforest and it was quite the adrenaline pumping journey down and through 8 different waterfalls. It was such a great time but I was questioning my sanity as I stepped off the earth on the first repel down and through the tallest waterfall at 170 feet. The day ended with a Costa Rican lunch that was quite tasty. On our last day in La Fortuna we went on a float trip down the Penas Blancas River. It was a slow relaxing trip and our goal was to see a sloth in the wild. Our guide did all the rowing so Joe and I just lounged as we floated under lofty trees that created an overhang over the river. Along the way we admired monkeys, bats,iguanas and crocodiles but just one sloth that was very difficult to see. Our guide was a wealth of information about the ecosystem and animals in Costa Rica. He was also very determined to find us a sloth! On the ride back to the hotel through pineapple fields as well as a lot of other farms taking advantage of the fertile ground he pulled over near a smattering of trees. He hopped out of the car and went sloth hunting. I guess he sees them here often and after about 20 minutes of looking he found one. Sloths blend well with the trees they hang out in and there is no way Joe and I would of ever saw this one. Mission accomplished as we got to see a sloth in the wild and our guide was exuberant he was able to show us one. We spent the rest of our last day hiking through the rainforest by our hotel and relaxing poolside with cocktail in hand. I was not ready to leave our beautiful home! Before I move onto our next and final home in Costa Rica I must mention a couple acquaintances that inspired me. When you travel solo you are always more apt to connect/meet/become friends with people but if you are awake to it….inspirational people are always right next to you.
Bob & Annie-I met them at the swim up bar on the day Joe was sick. They were in their lates 60s on their first trip to Costa Rica. Bob was ready to sell everything and move to Costa Rica but home was too important to Annie and she was adamant she would never move. This was their second attempt to get to Costa Rica. Bob had a near death experience a couple years prior when his aorta burst and it was touch and go for quite a while if he would pull through. He said there was a good year of recovery and then of course covid. This was their first trip since the health scare. I just loved how he was so grateful for his second chance on life and wanted to live it to its fullest. The other thing that I noticed is how they connected so organically. Even though he had big dreams of selling the farm for a warmer, calmer life he knew his wife, his love, was not going for it…but neither seemed angry or irritated about compromise. Instead they both excitedly and filled with gratitude talked about how they will move forward to live their life together at home but also traveling. They were beautifully committed, willing to compromise with their personal dreams. Bob & Annie’s love and commitment to each other was a palatable, strong force I felt. They inspired me….
Steve from Scotland-We met him while waiting for an excursion and I ran into him a few other times out and about. I didn’t have any lengthy conversations as I did with Bob & Annie but his presence was magnetic…he was outwardly happy, enthusiastic, excited to explore the world and seemingly perfectly comfortable with himself as we never did meet his wife…she was always in the room :). He inspired me…
Lastly Steve & Maria-Joe and I were eating lunch at an outdoor restaurant with another beautiful view of the volcano and Joe left me alone to go to the bathroom….thats all it takes! Steve and Maria were sitting close to us and I over heard their conversation and chimed in how amazing I thought it was. They had just rendezvoused in Costa Rica after Steve was solo sailing for almost 60 days on his sailboat. It wasn’t suppose to be that way but due to Covid a few ports refused to let him dock. I just could not fathom being alone on a boat for 2 months….who would I talk to…maybe a volleyball I name Wilson just as Tom Hanks did in cast Away :) Obviously he must of been prepared with food and water. He was not new to sailing nor was Maria as she had joined him on a trip around the world where they lived on the boat for a year! She was quick to share that she opted out of the latest adventure when he conjured up the plan. Some might think this is an idyllic way to spend a year, I know I am not that person and I was in awe of them so of course I had to tell them how impressive I found them. He was probably the biggest adventurer I have ever spoken with and reminded me so much of my Dad who loved his sailboat equally as much. How my Dad would of loved to live Steve’s life. They inspired me…
The next day our driver Oscar picked us up to drive us on the 4 hour journey to our final destination in Costa Rica, Las Mareas. Las Mareas is located in the very Northwest of Costa Rica, right on the border of Nicaragua. We probably never would of thought to go there but our friends Gary & Linda had a timeshare of sorts so when they decided to go we were excited to join them. The ride there was similar landscape to our previous trek from Nosara to La Fortuna but it did have a bit more paved highway. Along the way there were quite a few fires as we were visiting in the dry season. At one point we practically drove through some flames and I asked Oscar if the fire department would be coming and his reply was “No, it is the dry season and they just let them burn out”. Well that was surprising as it was quite a large fire burning people’s fields and seemingly on the path to burn homes? My impression from Oscar is that they don’t even have fire departments. We eventually left the smooth ride of pavement for more dirt and drove through a cute little town where we stopped briefly. There were wandering horses and goats and one restaurant where we grabbed a cerveza to go. Once we were a couple miles from the hotel, Dreams, we saw fires up on the ridge. Our arrival was smoky and I was worried we would have to endure that for our entire stay. As happy as I was to meet up with friends there was a moment between the smoke and the kids running around that I was ready to run back to the peacefulness of Amor Arenal. With positive thinking that night though we awoke the next morning to no smoke! Yay! Still the kids but no smoke. Let me be clear, I love kids but mine are grown. I look forward to the day of grandkids and I will be gungho for the crazy fun that goes along with the title of Grandma but that is another trip :).
We had a great time at the resort with our friends, highlighted with a sunset sail, a lot of relaxing and my favorite, the ATV tour we took. I have only driven an ATV one other time in my life and that was in the mountains surrounding Silverton Colorado. Maggie, Joe and I went with my friends that lived there and they promised we were going on the easiest route. Well, I don’t believe that was the case as I found myself on a very steep switchback where there was no room for error accidentally hitting your gas instead of break! I almost started to cry and wasn’t sure I would be able to continue but through the support of Joe and numerous strangers cheering me on, I did it! Loved the experience and was very proud of myself but I preferred the flat land and ability to go fast and not be scared for my life…Ha! Back to Costa Rica….this was a guided tour unlike Colorado that took us deep into the beautiful landscape of the jungles and plains, home to several groups of howler monkeys, cows…..yes cows and a sloth or two. A couple times the cows were literally blocking the path and I wasn’t sure if they were going to charge us or retreat to the sides. There were a couple moments of jitters climbing up and over big rocks but I met them with aggressiveness and confidence thanks to my experience in Colorado. The adventure took us to the top of a hill that had an absolute spectacular view of the land as well as the Pacific Ocean and even Nicaragua. Our guide was actually from Nicaragua and rode his motorcycle over the border everyday for work. His personality was so fun and adventurous. After the journey I was absolutely covered in dirt, even in the crevices of my stomach rolls :). Our last day at the resort Joe and Gary went out fishing….they were told to not come back without dinner and they exceeded expectations. Linda had to work and I sat on the beach sipping cocktails and studying my Spanish flash cards. I didn’t really chat with too many people over my time in Las Mareas but I was amused by this one lady that was sitting close to me on the beach. She was talking to a friend and she had such a fun, sassy attitude and she says “One day I am going to go on vacation and not be fat, but this isn’t that vacation”. She said it jokingly and her personality came through. She wasn’t about to worry about a few extra pounds….most ladies I know, including myself, could learn from her. The funniest is when she was talking to her friend and said “Yeah, I always only wanted one child and now I have seven, what the hell happened!” She was just one of those people that had such a hysterical way of expressing her thoughts and I was laughing a lot overhearing her talk. While I lounged and laughed Joe and Gary’s fishing expedition forging for our dinner with went quite well. They caught a tuna and a snapper. The resort cooked it and paired with some sides, it was my first time having snapper and it was delicious! We sat outside on a beautiful, breezy evening, had a nice bottle of wine with the fresh catch and great conversation with friends…wonderful way to conclude my month in Costa Rica.
Living Pura Vida for a month ignited my soul….my curiosity….my passion for travel and I have very lofty dreams I am manifesting right now thanks to Costa Rica. Both trips to Costa Rica have brought me joy, peace and clarity at two very different times in my life…the country is engrained in my heart and I will be back.
Ready to live Pura Vida?
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Ready to live Pura Vida? 〰️
Amor Arenal- Casita 21, 866.541.7207 amorarenal.com. Book massage!
Favorite restaurant-Restaurante Nene. Awesome seafood
Pure Trek Canyoning-866.569.5723 www.puretrek.com
Dreams Las Mareas-866-237-3267
ATV tour , sunset cruise and fishing trip booked through Dreams concierge.
