We woke to brilliant sunshine, crystal blue skies and an amazing view of the volcano. A perfect day to travel by car to our next destination, the Monteverde Rain Forest. After breakfast we quickly packed, jumped in our car and headed out for a lovely drive around Lake Arenal. The roads here were paved and curvy, following the outline of the lake. Private residences and resorts are tucked along the way, but the area still feels mostly undeveloped. Though it does appear to be changing, as there were many signs regarding new planned gated developments, with golf courses, no less!
We stopped for lunch at the Hotel Guadalupe in Tilerán. We just happened to stop in this place and highly recommend it. The restaurant was very clean and charming and the food delicious. We were the only patrons there as it was early (11am), but we wanted to fuel up for the remaining drive.
Then the interesting part of the trip began! We read many times about the roads, but you think, how bad can it really be? Well, pretty bad. I drove and never left 2nd gear. The road is very rocky and pot-holed the entire rest of the drive. It was a back-breaking bone-crunching trip, with Natalie serenading us from the backseat singing Kennolyn campfire songs and the American national anthem (at least the verses she knew – well, pretended to know). Next came one of those “when it rains it pours” moments, as it literally started pouring rain. Pouring! But it’s all good when you’re on vacation and we eventually made it to the town of Santa Elena, and our destination, the Monteverde Lodge.
When we arrived it was still raining, with lots of lightning and thunder – Natalie was enthralled. We checked in, changed clothes and then decided to explore the area by foot. Chris realized quickly that the jacket he brought really wasn’t rainproof, but thank goodness we had borrowed an umbrella from the hotel. We hiked around town to the closest indoor attraction, the Ranarium (Frog-arium) and took a tour to see all the little frogs and toads of Costa Rica. Chris got a great photo of the red-eyed tree frog (made famous for being on the Care2 logo of course!), sitting on Natalie’s hand. It was an educational tour, but weird to go so far into the wild to experience these creatures in aquariums.
Tired, we grabbed an early dinner at the Treehouse Restaurant (which ended up being the equivalent to TGIF in the US and was not a highlight of our trip), walked back to the lodge, hopped in the hot tub for a warmup, and crashed in our beds for the night.
The Next Day: Costa Rica: Monteverde
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary