We made arrangements with the hotel for someone to be at our room at 6:45 am to pick our bags and transport them to the lobby. No way we could manage that! So after about 7:30 and at least 4 requests to the front desk they called a taxi which came from the town, drove up the hill to our room, picked up the bags, drove them down the hill and transported them to the lobby. The taxi then left and I assume went back into town.

     
 
Views from the lobby area, our room is the one at the very top left.

  
View from half way up the hill. Because of the climb, my aches and complaints Gary went into town and brought back a feast that we enjoyed in the room along with some wine we had purchased in Panama.

  
The trip to Arenal this morning was by car, Van, boat, van.

  
We shared the van/boat with a group from Sarnia, Ontario and another group from Australia. The drive was along the usual CR road, just over an hour from Monteverde to Lake Arenal where we caught the boat. Here is some of what we saw along the way

Lots of wind so a wind farm makes sense!
 

   
 
A school

  
   
   
Then our first views of Arenal volcano. Because of the low clouds at that point you can’t see it in the pictures.

When we arrive at the lake the van is swarmed by young boys who all gathered round to carry our luggage down the muddy, slippery slope to the “dock” and our boat. The dock consisted of a log that the driver held still with his foot so we could step onto the front of the boat without going in the water!

   
 
There were about half a dozen boats coming and going using this landing area. As we arrived there people were getting off the boats and the boys were carrying their bags to the vans which then return to Monteverde. There are 2 trips a day each way. The boat ride across the lake was smooth and we could see the volcano approaching as we crossed. The lake was expanded by the construction of a hydro electric dam a number of years ago. This provides over 10% of CR electricity.

   
   
On the Arenal side we have a slightly better landing area – a paved steep boat ramp, again some assistance required to disembark. On this side there is no gang of boys to take our bags to the top of the ramp – so all the passengers, the boat driver and the van driver take on the task. 

On the way we came to a car that had stopped to feed one of the local residents

  
A Coati. We saw a few of them in Montverde area as well.

Then the most wonderful hotel! A greeter waits for us as the van arrives, we are escorted to the lobby and given a drink (there was a choice and we both opted for what tasted like a whiskey sour). All the hotel amenities are explained and then we are driven to our room and our bags delivered. There are 2 lovely restaurants and a bar. Our room is lovely and overlooks the volcano. We had lunch and a stroll around the property to see the spa, gym, hot springs etc. Lovely grounds.

  
Our room has a view of the volcano which is just over 5400 feet elevation and the highest point in CR. The view changes rapidly as the clouds fly across the sky.

Tomorrow we are going on a river trip on the Rio Negro, hopefully we will see more wildlife than we have seen so far. A nine hour tour so I may miss a day of the blog.

  
  
I think Maureen and Sharon left on their cruise around South America today – hope your trip is wonderful.