Travelogue Costa Rica — Day 6, Tuesday, 23rd November, 2010

Surrounding area of La Fortuna: 20 km (13 mi)

It’s still raining when we wake up and the grey sky doesn’t give hope for better weather. There is not a bit of sighting of close by Volcano Arenal. Just clouds and rain.

Despite the frustrating weather we enjoy a good start to the day. First of all we take a bath in the thermal pool and then we have a very good breakfast. So far, so good, but what to do now?

In Germany we have a saying " There is no bad weather but just wrong clothing". So we get dressed accordingly: rain jacket, rain trouser and waterproof hiking boots. Wrapped up like that we drive to National Park Al Arenal to go for a hike. At the entrance of the park they tell us we won’t see much. In this weather. We should rather take a guide and have a chance to see at least some animals.
 
We take the advice, hire a guide and go on a hike with him. In fact we do see some animals: one hawler monkey, three tucans and an eagle. But all of them are too far away to take a picture.

Our hike leads to the shore of Lake Arenal. It is still pouring with rain and it’s not fun at all. Actually we had agreed on a 3 hour tour, but we all agree to terminate it after half the time. Continuous rain can be really frustrating.

In the end we have paid 10.000 Colones (20 $) for our guided tour. Compared to other tours we have done in the remaining course of our trip this was by far too much. Our guide had only poor knowledge of English and he did not dispose of a telescope enabling us to get a closer view at the few animals we saw.

There isn’t much to tell abt. the remaining time of this rainy day. We spend it in our comfortable chalet and “enjoy” listening to the rain. I check the Internet (good Wifi connection in our room) for all weather forecasts I can find for Costa Rica. It seems that weather is going to improve, but it’s hard to believe for us.

At 4:40 p.m., abt. half an hour before sunset, unexpectedly it begins to clear up! And all of a sudden here it is: Volcano Arenal. At least a part of the volcano is now visible.

The picure on the right shows the same view than the one above taken this morning. That’s already better, but it still could be much better of course with sunshine.

At least it stops raining in the evening and we can walk to the hotel reaturant on dry feet. There is only one more couple having dinner here. The food is o.k., but nothing special.

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