DAY 1  |  san jose + arenal
 

After one sleepless night, two boarding passes, and three hours on a windy mountain road, we arrived at our first destination: Arenal. Upon arrival, we met up with our friend from home, Rae, who happened to be vacationing in Costa Rica as well. There's something so sweet about seeing a familiar face in an unknown place. Once we got to our hostel, we ventured out to a coffee and pizza shop down the road. Nothing tastes better than a frothy "cafe con leche y miel" after a long night of traveling. Continuing down the road, we explored the downtown souvenir shops and buildings. Every shop had its own character and unique trinkets with vibrant colors.

Later that evening we decided to celebrate "Galentines Day" by treating ourselves to the mineral springs at the Springs Resort (featured in the 2011 season of the Bachelor). We sat in the hot pools and enjoyed our first fresh Pina Colada of the trip, followed by a three course meal on the patio. New fun fact of the day: The Pava is a rare Costa Rican bird that has black feather and long tail feathers. Contrary to our gringo ears, it's not a "Baba" or a "Pawa", it's a "Pava". It took a few taxi cab drivers laughing at us to know the difference. We saw two Pavas perched in the trees when driving to the Springs Resort.

DAY 2  |  arenal + rio deceleste
 

Up with the sun, our day began with a hike to Rio Celeste. We took an hour long shuttle ride through the mountains and the jungle trees. Upon arrival, we were advised by our tour guide Marco,  to rent rubber boots because of the deep mud on the trail. Good thing we did... We had never seen so much mud! Throughout the hike we saw the blue lagoon, volcano vents called boilers, hanging bridges, the origin of the Rio Celeste, and a gorgeous waterfall. The color of the river stands out above all. Legend has it that this is where God washed his paint brush when he painted the sky. Modern scientists have found other molecular reasons for the vibrant blue, but we'll stick with the legend for story sake. After slip sliding around, we ate a traditional Casado con polo lunch with fresh mango juice at the national park. That evening we said goodbye to Rae and headed to the Baldi Hot Springs, after our dinner at the Lava Lounge. There were about 30 different hot pools with waterfalls and different colored mood lights, illuminating the mineral water. On the way back, the taxi cab driver had his wife riding along with him. They were very excited to tell us about places to visit while in Arenal. It surprised us how friendly and helpful the locals were!

New fun fact of the day: The source of the river's distinctive turquoise color is not a due to a chemical species but to a physical phenomenon known as Mie scattering. Rio Celeste is fed by two colorless rivers, the Buenavista River and Sour Creek. Buenavista River carries a large concentration of aluminosilicate particles and Sour Creek has a high acidity due to volcanic activity. When these two streams mix to form Rio Celeste, the drop in pH causes the particles to aggregate and enlarge. When the sun hits these enlarged suspended particles, it makes the water appear turquoise to the eye. Long story short, it's an optical illusion!

DAY 3  |  arenal + zip lining

We started day three with the best breakfast burrito and banana pancakes! It fueled us up for a long walk alongside the cow and horse pastures.
The road seemed to stretch for miles. Along the way, we found an artisan shop and browsed through handmade Costa Rican crafts. Later in the afternoon we changed our sight seeing perspective with a canopy zip line tour!

An old school bus carried us up the rocky, steep hill then we hiked up mountain side stairs, through the jungle trees, to the first line. A series of 12 lines carried us over the jungle canopy and the La Fortuna waterfall, ending in the Maleku indigenous village. Tired and hungry from our afternoon adventure, we walked into town for dinner and refreshing drinks. All of the restaurants we ate at had the freshest fruit and most flavorful coffee. When we ordered a Pina Colada, they took a whole pineapple down from the shelf, chopped it up, and blended it right in front of us. It doesn't get better than that!

Fun fact of the day: The Maleku are indigenous people of Costa Rica located in the Guatuso Indigenous Reserve. Around 600 aboriginal people live on the reserve. They are one of four remaining Costa Rican tribes that live by their traditional customs. When we visited their huts, they let us taste their fermented fruit drink and showed us their hand carved and painted masks, jewelry, and accessories. Their simpler ways of life are quite inspiring!

DAY 4  |  arenal + la fortuna waterfall

In a quest for one last Arenal adventure, we walked to the La Fortuna waterfall. We were told the walk would take only an hour but it turns out it is 4 miles, mostly up hill! For the first time since we were there, the sun came out so we were soaked with sweat walking along the exposed agricultural roads. Once we got to the waterfall it was 500 steps down to the bottom of the waterfall. To top it off, we were on a time crunch because our shuttle for the Caribbean was picking us up shortly and we had planned for an hour walk. Regardless, we were determined to put our feet in the water. Our will was stronger than our bodies! We ended up making it down and back up 500 steps in only 30 minutes. Exhausted, we then took a taxi back to the hostel and boarded our six hour long shuttle to Puerta Viejo. Needless to say, we were okay with sitting and resting our legs for awhile. The waterfall was absolutely breath taking though and completely worth the effort! We were at the bottom of a 250 foot waterfall with the water crashing 50 feet in front of us. Going forward, we have learned to take Costa Ricans estimates loosely.

Fun fact of the day: La Fortuna Waterfall (Spanish for "the fortune") is located in the Alajuela Province. In Spanish, it is known as Catarata Fortuna. The waterfall drops about 70−75 meters and is located at the base of the dormant Chato volcano, about 5.5 km outside of the town of La Fortuna, near the Arenal Volcano. It is fed by the Tenorio River, which travels through the rain forest in the Arenal Mountain range until it plunges over the cliff, forming this waterfall.