We head off to see Old Faithful

The plan was to spend two nights in the Volcan Arenal area, near La Fortuna, about a three hour drive from Pavas. Wito had found a place where all four families (ours, Wito & Maritza, Ricardo’s, and Carmen’s could stay. One big house with four suites and one shared living space and kitchen. It was $60 a night per family, which is a bit more than we usually spend on lodging here in Costa Rica, but still close to what you’d spend in the States for a dumpy little motel. I didn’t keep my hopes up that it would be all that great.

We got up around 6. We had mostly packed up the night before, so we just had to get dressed and loaded up in order to meet everyone at a gas station near the airport. The farmer’s market was in full swing, so we bought some fruit to take with us to Arenal. The drive was uneventful. Fabian had a work-related meeting, so it was just our car, Wito’s, and Ricardo’s caravanning to Fortuna. Fabian and family would meet us there later.

In San Ramon, we stopped at a grocery store. I got some cash at an ATM and bought some more cans of diced tomatoes to add to my homemade salsa. As I walked back to the cars, a tourism bus drove by and someone on the bus shouted “Go Gators!” I raised a clinched fist in solidarity.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had an indoor swing set for the kids. While we waited for our food, a man came by with two young buffalo, grazing on the grass around the restaurant. It was a classic Latin American moment. The kids loved it.

We finally reached the turn-off for our lodging. The road was steep, muddy, and slow-going. And none of us seemed really sure where the place was. We passed many very poor, country shacks populated by jaded onlookers. Finally we arrived at La Princesa de la Luna, the place where we’d be staying. It completely exceeded my expectations. I was expecting one big house, but this was almost palatial. A sprawling, multi-level compound of sitting rooms and bedrooms, a huge veranda with a bar and several dining tables, a roomy fully-equipped kitchen, a Jacuzzi, and several hammock-chairs. The house was surrounded by gorgeous rainforest, and Arenal Volcano loomed over it all, although it was currently shrouded in thick clouds.

We checked out all the rooms. A light rain was falling as Ricardo and I hiked down a steep path with the kids. The path was well-maintained and we zig-zagged through the dense foliage until we arrived at a swimming pool, fed by a river. Unfortunately, the recent rains had muddied the water a little, but I was impressed that there was a pool there in the middle of the jungle.  

Back up at the house, we chose our rooms and unloaded the vehicles. Alex was dying to get into his bathing suit and try out the Jacuzzi, so we let him. Sofia gave me a tour, which I videotaped for posterity. The place was so big it took up quite a bit of video footage, but the kids will like the documentation for future nostalgic purposes.

We drank some soda and munched on some chips and salsa (batch number 1 got all eaten up). After some general hanging around, we loaded up around 5:30 to head to the Arenal Observatory Lodge restaurant. We had reservations for dinner at 6, and the place was supposed to have spectacular views of the volcano, including the best views of the lava flows.

We drove through Fortuna on the way to the restaurant. Cristina and I were amazed at how much more developed it is since the last time we were here in 2002, including new massive hotels and fancy restaurants. We passed by Baldi, the thermal waters resort that we’ve never gone to because we always preferred Tabacon. It looked a lot fancier than it used to. Obviously they’re keeping up with the level of development in the area. Then we passed Tabacon, which looked just as nice (and busy) as ever. Cristina said Tabacon had Disney World-type pricing now. I knew it was expensive, but it’s hard to believe they’re charging close to $50 per person now. I’m not sure if we’ll make it there this summer, not because of the price, but because I’d want to spend a large part of a day there. And the place we’re staying at is so nice (and remote) that I’m not sure I’m willing to leave it for most of a day.

We turned off the paved road and lumbered along a rough, pot hole-filled dirt road (enough to fill the Albert Hall…ha ha…but unlike the holes in Blackburn Lancashire, these holes were not rather small). It was 7 km to the observatory, which doesn’t sound very far. But when you’re creeping down a crappy road at 20 kmph max, it takes a while. Bella fell asleep. It had been a long day of driving combined with the excitement of the new place, and the hike to the pool. She was toast. When she’s about to fall asleep in the car, she asks for permission to go to sleep. It’s cute. It’s because she knows we usually don’t want her to fall asleep before bedtime, because it throws her sleep patterns off.

By the time we got to the Observatory Lodge, it was dark. We waited while Wito talked to the guard at the entrance gate. It was taking a while, and finally Wito got out and came back to our cars. They were trying to charge us 2000 colones per person just to get in the gate. Whoever had booked the place for dinner was not aware of the entrance fee. 2000 colones may not sound like much ($4) but when you’ve got 17 people, it adds up. We weren’t willing to spend $68 just to go to this restaurant, nice view or not. So we turned around and went back down the 7 km bumpy road until we got to paved bliss again.

We finally settled on an Italian restaurant in Fortuna. Everything in Fortuna has gotten expensive, so for a nice place with great food (according to Fabian) this was middle-of-the-road in terms of expense. Sofia had been wanting ravioli, so she finally got her chance. Since the next day was Ricardo and Carmen’s birthday (they’re twins) after the meal they brought out a dessert for each of them and we all sang. Good times.

We drove back to our “palace” and got the kids ready for bed. It was close to 10 by this time, so the two younger kids were more than ready to zonk. As was I. I lay down with Bella and fell asleep. It was quite muggy and warm, so when I got up, I showered off and then got in my bed. I slept well.