#2617 memories of Costa Rica: Arenal

Lizzie and I spent three nights at a lovely hotel at the base of the Arenal volcano. I’ll talk more about the hotel in an upcoming post, because tonight I just want to talk about Arenal. It dominates the landscape. You can see it for miles. It is magnificent.

Every room at the Arenal Kioro hotel has a view of the volcano. We were in room 302, and I’m pretty sure we had absolutely the best full-on view. Of course I didn’t see the views from any other room, but I know that our view was spectacular. 

This is one of the first photos taken from the room. The cone, or the top of Arenal, is shrouded in clouds. Lizzie had been told we might not see the top of the volcano while we were there. It is the rainy/green season, and we did expect a lot of rain.

Imagine our delight when the cone made a wisp of an appearance in the afternoon which we were having lunch at the pool bar.

Over the next couple of days, Arenal went through various states of cloud cover, and some awesome clear views of the steam coming out of the cone.

This photo was taken in the afternoon from the pool area. Very clear and volcanic steam plainly visible.

This was taken the same afternoon as the photo above, but from our room

The photo was taken by our guide, Francisco, at the Místico Hanging Bridges Park. Of course, that’s Arenal in the background, and I also like the Costa Rican flag making an appearance over on the right.

The next photo is one of my favorites of the volcano. I took it from the window of the restaurant at the hotel. You can see that the sky is bright blue and clear. It’s actually the day we went to Místico Hanging Bridges. The morning was very clear, and then it got cloudy over the volcano, as you can see in the photo right above.

Can you see the face? Lizzie and I could see the face pretty much every day. I’ve looked closely at all my photos but the face shows up the most in this photo. Do you see it?

Maybe if you double click on the image, you will be able to see it more clearly. I know it’s kind of a stretch, but it kept us entertained and a little enchanted. 

Bottom line, it was thrilling  to be that close to the volcano. Every time we gazed at her (or is it him?) we saw it a bit differently and always, always, with awe and reverence.