Travels to Northern Region
Although I would love to have joined the lodge’s complimentary guided 8:30 a.m. nature walk, I was visiting the Arenal Hanging Bridges today. I wandered up to the dining room and observatory deck where birders were out in full force, binoculars and guidebooks in hand. They chattered excitedly, but always in hushed tones as birders do, about the tanagers and cinnamon woodpeckers nesting in the trees.
More a mammal and amphibian lover, I left the birders to do what they do best, and sampled some of the lodge’s fine morning buffet. I wished that I was …
Location: Arenal and La Fortuna, Northern Region »
Activities: Bird & Wildlife Watching, Hiking, Sunsets, Volcanoes »
I awoke to a cacophony of birds at 6 a.m. and picked out the warbling of an oro pendola and the loud squawks of green parrots, all drawn to the lush gardens surrounding my hotel. I fueled up on gallo pinto (Costa Rica’s savory version of rice and beans) and fresh fruit, ready to test my endurance with Bike Arenal’s mountain bike tour from the base of Arenal Volcano to the village of El Castillo.
Our Bike Arenal driver was clearly not running on Tico time (translation: notoriously late) and arrived at 8:10 a.m., just as …
Location: Arenal and La Fortuna, Northern Region »
Activities: Bird & Wildlife Watching, Mountain Biking, Volcanoes »
I hit the road with little more than a tank full of gas, a backpack, camera and the luxury of time. Over the next two weeks, I plan to rappel 210-foot waterfalls in a rainforest canyon, gallop on powerful horses, zip through the sky high above the tree line and, hopefully, land some monster guapote (rainbow bass) fishing in Arenal Lake.
I am off to the pueblo of La Fortuna de San Carlos, locally known as La Fortuna, a small town that lies at the base of Arenal, one of the world’s ten most active volcanoes. …
Location: Arenal and La Fortuna, Northern Region »
Activities: Volcanoes »
