Costa Rica: Caribbic & Arenal

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We stopped in Puerto Viejo to check emails and shop a little and then drove on looking for somewhere to park. Finally we found the spot that Bruni and Norbert had used but there was a group of Costa Ricans using it. They were very friendly though and when they were ready to leave indicated that we should drive in and park. It was right on the beach - we could almost paddle our feet straight out the back door! There were a lot of locals around celebrating the holidays but as soon as it was getting dark they left for the day. Night-time was very quiet except for the waves. It was the 29th so we decided to stay through until New Years Day.
Just down from us there was a Lazy Daze with Alaskan number plates. The girls, Ricki and Christina, were great and we followed them to the next camping place in the New Year and met them again here at Belen when we arrived on Saturday. New Year's Eve was a relatively quiet affair. We sat and chatted with Ricky and Christina for a bit and then opened our bottle of champagne at about 9.00, and went to bed after a couple of glasses. Next morning we packed up fairly early - for us - and were on our way by 9.00. We drove to the end of the road in Manzanillo, decided that it wasn't that exciting, then turned around and headed back to the main road. Once again we checked emails and shopped in Puerto Viejo and then drove on. Our destination was The Painted Palms, which is on the main highway and impossible to miss because all the stems of the coconut palms are painted in garish colours.
An American couple, Ron and Dina, have a property right opposite the beach, with a well-stocked souvenir shop that also serves fast food. They keep the area under the coconut palms by the beach clean and accessible, and welcome campers there. They have a bathroom in a cabana out the back of the shop that it is possible to use and Ron will happily bring out his hose to fill the water tank in the RV. They are very friendly and helpful people. The Alaskans were already there when we arrived and we spent a pleasant afternoon and evening with them. After dark Ron and Dina set off their new year's fireworks. Although it had been raining on and off all day, the sky was clear and starry during the beautiful display.
The next morning Ron went with Juergen into Puerto Limón to visit a shipping agent, who he thought might be able to help us find a ship from there to Colombia. Unfortunately she proved to be not a great deal of help but it was nice of Ron to take the time. In the afternoon we drove back down the road a bit to visit Cahuita. We have recently become familiar with the calypso music of Walter Ferguson, who is in his 80's and has lived all his adult life in Cahuita. We decided that since we were so close we might as well check out the town he loves so much that he won't leave it. It is a quiet little beachside town which mostly seems to run tours out to Tortuga Island. We stopped for a drink, bought some sarongs and then went back to The Painted Palms to spend the night.
The next day we left for Arenal, hoping that the volcano might deign to show herself to us - many people have told us that they only see cloud when they visit this active volcano. It was raining heavily when we left The Painted Palms and it rained on and off all the way. We drove through one area (around Aguas Zarcas and not that high altitude-wise) that had fog so thick we could hardly see where we were going. And, to make matters worse, many drivers don't put on their headlights. It was late afternoon when we arrived in Fortuna, so we began looking for somewhere to stay. We finally found a nice little campground where we could stay in the parking lot. The young boy taking care of it was very friendly and kept the garden beautiful and the bathrooms very clean.
In the morning, after having a look around Fortuna, we went looking for the elusive volcano, even though it was very grey and still raining on and off. On reaching the Arenal dam we drove up to the Hanging Bridges walk to find it almost deserted and the walk closed. Evidently there had been a really bad storm the day before which had blown tree branches and other debris onto the trail, and they had closed it to clear it up. It would be open the next day. We did see the very bottom of the volcano from their parking lot, but the majority of it was shrouded in cloud. We had noticed quite a bit of debris on the road from Fortuna to the dam, but when we drove on to Nuevo Arenal there were whole trees that had fallen and been hastily sawn into pieces to get them off the road. There were also a number of places where there had been large landslides and some heavy machinery trying to clear the road. While in parts it was down to a single lane or the traffic was stopped to let the machinery work, it was nowhere impassable.
We didn't really see very much of the town of Nuevo Arenal, but we found the German Bakery very easily and spent several hours there using the free wireless and having coffee and cake. Tomas, the owner made himself known and passed on information he thought we might find useful, including directions to a place by the lake where we could spend the night. We found it easily, but it was very muddy, and the only place to park without fear of getting bogged was at the top of the paved road that led down to the boat ramp. We had to move once after parking there to allow a man to pick up his boat, but then we moved back and weren't further disturbed. At least, not until the early hours...
A rather noisy motor bike woke us just after 3.30 am. Juergen then had the clever idea to look outside to check the sky - it was clear and cloud-free. We got up and dressed, then walked down to the lake to see if it was possible to see the volcano from where we were. Even though it was so clear there was no volcano in sight. Since we had no idea where we should be able to see it from nearby, we packed up quickly and drove an hour back to the dam, where we knew it should be visible if the sky remained clear. Full credit to the road clearing crews because the road, which had been so heavily littered the day before, was now clear and very safe to drive in the pre-dawn dark.
We arrived at the dam before 5.00 and the silhouette of the volcano was clear, except for some cloud just around the very peak. We even had a glimpse of some red embers of some sort. While making breakfast we watched as the sun came up behind the volcano and found that getting moving so early did have its reward! After the sun was up and breakfast was finished we decided to drive up to Hanging Bridges again and maybe get some sleep in the car park before taking the walk. It was about quarter to eight when we arrived and it was once again empty, so we parked and climbed into the back and immediately went back to bed. This was no sooner done than the traffic began to arrive - mini buses that need to keep their motors running, children running around and people calling from one side of the parking lot to another. We had forgotten that it was Saturday and it sounded like half of Costa Rica was arriving to walk the Bridges!
Slowly we decided that sleep was out of the question, and then we realised that with so many people on the trail seeing anything other than trees full of bromeliads was probably also out of the question, so we decided to save our $22 each admission and drive back to Belen Trailer Park - giving me more time to get organised for my trip home. The day turned out to be sunny and clear once we got away from Arenal and the drive went relatively smoothly. Along the way we passed huge plantations of dracaenas, which grow really well in many of our gardens at home. They are highly appreciated as house plants in Europe and it would seem that some enterprising farmers here are catering to that market. The road was quite narrow but there wasn't a great deal of traffic - until we caught up with 2 big trucks about 15 km from the Pan-American Highway which slowed us down to a crawl until we reached San Ramon. It was just impossible to get around them.
When we arrived 'home', we were very pleased to see that the Alaskan girls were still here. There was also another Rotel, although only the tour leaders - Franz and Sonja - were with it. The tour group was due to arrive at the airport that evening. We all went to dinner at the Italian restaurant just up the road and had a delightful evening.
That afternoon as I was talking to my nephew on Skype, I was stunned to silence by the arrival of the oldest trailer (caravan) I have seen in a long while, being towed into the park. It looked like it was about to disintegrate any moment. The Californians - a brother and sister - had brought it all the way from the States. Luckily he is a bit of a handyman because the next day we watched him repairing it so it wasn't likely to fall completely apart for a little while longer. The trailer is as old as I am and I don't think I would have had the courage to have travelled in it. Thank god I am holding together better than that.

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