on to cano negro

So..as I mentioned in the last blog, on day 2 in Arenal we woke up to howler monkeys at 5am (I thought we were being attacked!! I nudged Isabel, but she was not interested). We boarded a large van with other folks and headed to Cano Negro Wildlife Preserve on the border of Nicaragua. The drive up was a true look into the 3rd world country we were visiting: houses with dirt floors along the way, school kids and random dogs running amuck. Our first stop was a small roadside cafe with iguanas all over the place. Who knew that iguanas live in trees? Weird. We drove on...Very hot and very poor. We finally reached our destination out in BFE and boarded a small flatboat. We trolled down a river through the preserve and saw monkeys, sloths, jesus lizards, caiman, bats on trees, etcc... check out the photos

Back to Costa Rica.....so we spent the 2nd and 3rd nights in Arenal. The first night we saw the volcano as I mentioned. That night we met the greatest frog ever..after we spent hours in hot springs. The hot springs were great, and it was fun to ascend pool to pool up to the hottest springs..Unforgettable...the waitress pulled that frog off the wall in the kitchen. Holy National Geographic..

The second day we headed for the border of Nicaragua with a few young guides (very entertaining guys!!!!) to float down a river in Cano Negro, an awesome wildlife refuge. Along the way we saw some interesting things, most notably a cafe completely invaded by local iguanas. They live and thrive in trees...who knew????

Arenal, Costa Rica

Okay...so back to Costa Rica. As I mentioned before, we spent several days in Arenal near the most active volcano. We highly recommend Hotel Nayara, by far the best hotel we have ever visited. We arrived and our nice host Johnathan pointed out some howler monkeys in a tree just outside our cabana. Isabel got some great pics with her new camera of the volcano at night during our guided tour. The restaurant at the hotel was great!!!!! And we enjoyed a typical tico breakfast each morning there (rice, beans, plaintains, eggs, and salsa).