Arenal: Part 1

For the last few days of George's parents' stay, we all took a car trip to the northern part of the country in search of some serious hiking and adventure. We opted to go see Arenal, an active volcano, surrounded by other mountains, sunny skies, cities, ziplines and oodles of challenging trails all around. Or so we imagined! As is usual during travel, reality did not quite match up with expectations, but in the end we had more than our fair share of satisfying adventures.

Our first realization was that the dry season in Arenal is not really very dry. We drove in through raging downpours and super thick fog. Add in the winding roads of the mountains, the plethora of freight bearing trucks and the rather hectic driving of the locals, and we had a bit of a harrowing drive. Driving in Costa Rica is not for the faint of heart. And the inclement weather would dog us for the rest of our stay, but really what could we expect, being in the rainforest? The cloud forest, no less.

In the mid-afternoon we pulled into the Cabanas Josipek for our first night, settling into a cozy wooden cabin with two bedrooms and a small kitchen. Grocery store food and guidebooks in hand, we dined and plotted out the next day as the rain came down heavily outside.

The official greeter at Cabanas Josipek

The first day was spent exploring the area in the car, searching for the best things to do. We checked out La Fortuna, the town at the base of Arenal. We drove over to and around the volcano and up the dirt road to where all the interesting stuff appeared to be. Going up that road was intense, though. George sensibly implored his father to go slower and avoid the massive number of potholes, while Nick and I childishly and eagerly urged him to see what our four wheel rental vehicle could do. Steve went as fast as his parental druthers allowed.

Wanting to get some hiking in that day, we pulled off the dirt road into the Arenal National Park, where we were immediately accosted at the entrance by a native with some seriously rapid patter. Steve stared out the window of the car trying to absorb as much of the information as he could while the rest of us just kind of gave each other bemused looks, asking aloud what he was saying and shaking our heads, unable to comprehend. We eventually realized he was trying to sell us guided services, but we were having none of it. We paid the entrance fee (kind of grudgingly, being used to free American trails) and set out to see the volcano.

Cloud forest indeed

It didn't take us long to get to the end of the trail, to our chagrin. We were greeted with a sign warning of an active volcanic area ahead, but we also learned that the volcano had been entirely dormant for the last four months and was unlikely to show us any fireworks during our stay. We stared up at volcano Arenal before us, or at least as much as we could see. Clouds were pretty much settled permanently on the upper half of the volcano, shielding it from view from every angle. We considered striking out on our own into the trees, climbing up as far as we could so we could quench our thirst for adventure, but in the end decided to try and come at the volcano from another angle through another trail. Defeated, we retreated back to our car, taking a muddy alternative route back and had some lunch at the car in the state park parking lot and getting rained upon along the way.

Nick did get to climb this sweet tree on the way out though

We did some more driving around after that, browsing the other activities available in the area up that dirt road. We talked with a guy at the entrance of another trail, who explained to us that there hadn't really been a dry season for some time around Arenal, and this kind of foggy, rainy weather was pretty typical even for February or March. Given our experience with the national park and its muddy, short and unchallenging trails, this did not bode well for our hiking plans.

We returned to town and settled into the Arenal Backpacker's Hostel, having decided to try a cheaper option for the remainder of our stay. After some dinner and ice cream in La Fortuna we got together in Steve and Sherri's room to deliberate some more over weather reports, guidebooks and Google searches trying to figure out what to do. Were there better trails than the National Park? How muddy and rainy would they be? The weather looked like it would clear up later in the week, but would the trails dry up by then? And how much were we willing to spend on all this, given that everything seemed to have a cost? We pondered these questions and considered going elsewhere in Costa Rica for our fun, but in the end decided there was enough promise to give it at least another full day. And so we retired for the night, going to our dorms and bedrooms and hoping for some sun the next day.