Adventures with Greg: Cerro Chato Trail to Volcano Arenal and Hot Springs

We arrived in La Fortuna at night on the Exploradores shuttle. This is the first time you are starting to see familiar faces as people are taking a similar route across the country. The town is sketchy looking, in its defense, all towns here are sketchy looking. We checked in to the backpackers hostel in the middle of town. Overall, its a decent hostel, with a bar and kitchen (sister hostel down the street has a pool you can use (that we skipped). Personally, if I had a car, I would stay out of town something towards the volcano. That night we checked out the local festival across the street (not up to my standards of festival going), and after listening to a 13 year old kid in a Spanish getup singing music, it was time to split. We went to the happening spot across the street and smashed some food (overall disappointing), we were both exhausted, so it was time to turn in.

Next day, it was time to plan the next step of our trip, as we had nothing prepared, we decided to take the Jeep boat jeep tour and stay in the Santa Elena backpackers hostel near Monte Verde. For the Arenal Volcano, we bought a tour that starts at 10am and ends at 8p. Couple of quick thoughts...

Cerro Chato Hike

This hike is no joke. If its raining and muddy, be prepared to suffer. If you are like me and you enjoy suffering, this is up your alley. My dad enjoyed this trail, but was last person walking the whole time. I am really proud that he finished it, no complaining, no bitching, just got it done :) There are moments where you are holding on to roots while swinging your leg out, etc. Not for the faint of heart. Doing a tour was nice, because if you dont know what to expect or where you're going, this can drag out. Cerro chato is the longer hike around Arenal volcano, and it has its own crater that was once active and blew off the top of the mountain. Then rain filled in a lake. Supposedly the lake and the view of Arenal is beautiful...

Wet Season

But we never saw any of those views or the volcano. It rained on and off and the clouds covered the views and the volcano. While somewhat disappointing, it is to be expected during this time of year, if seeing the volcano is important, stay longer or visit during the busy time when its mostly clear. I will say that the jungle and the woods ARE awesome in the rain, so its just another way to experience an awesome thing.

Marcos

Marcos was one of our guides, who works @ Red Lava tours and is also a fun local dude that guided us through the trek. Marcos stayed back at the end of the hike majority of the time to keep an eye on pops. He really loves what he does and the passion shows up during the experience. Def recommend rolling with these guys!

Hot Springs

The best part of the day was to roll over to the public Hot springs location, where the volcano created therapeutic waters to jump into. Since this is a public spot, you park on the side of the highway, strip down to swim trunks only and walk off the side of a bridge (no footwear, towels, cameras, etc), this was an awesome experience. By this time its getting dark outside, the entire group has had enough camaraderie to brave the hike all day, everybody knows everybody and we all share in the accomplishment and misery. This is a perfect time to jump into water and heal those muscles...

After a few evening margaritas, its time to go to bed and catch an 830a Jeep boat jeep tour to Monte Verde / Santa Elena...