We headed to Laguna Arenal on the chance of seeing the volcano. Ends up the hotel we booked was on the other side of the lake, 36 miles away. That's 2 hours on these roads. But the volcano is rarely visible in the rainy season, and the Hotel Tilawa was very...interesting.
The lake was amazing...One of top windsurfing destinations in the world during the dry season. But it was still plenty windy in August, and Lee got some good rides...
And there were these real cool windmills all over (an important energy source for Costa Rica)...
And as luck would have it, the clouds cleared and we did get as good a look at the volcano as we had any right to expect. It's big.
The girls loved the informal attitude at the hotel (just walk into the kitchen if you need anything, honor system at the bar), and the pool...
The major excursion was a trip on a raft down the Corobici/Tonorio river(s)...
Where we saw cool bats (80% of mammal varieties in Costa Rica are bats)...
And Howler Monkeys (they're all over the place)...
And a Croc! (We know it's small, but we were just as happy not to meet Mommy)...
There was also a trip to the German Bakery in Arenal. All we can say is it doesn't take much to become a tourist destination in this neck of the woods...
