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After spending the sunny part of the day at the Tabacon hot springs, we traveled
for 20 minutes (and 9 km) on an unpaved road to the Arenal Observatory Lodge. As soon as
our taxi pulled up the driveway we knew we were going to like this place a lot
better. It's another ecolodge, so its impact on the environment is very
low. It was smaller, there were fewer people, and everything was clean and
really well-maintained. It was heavenly to walk into our room and be able
to breathe deeply. And right out our window was the volcano -- so close
that we could hear it making blowing sounds as it released gases. We would strongly recommend the Arenal Observatory Lodge to anyone traveling to that area. There are trails for 3 and 4 hour hikes right on the property, as well as paved (wheelchair-accessible) trails on the grounds. It would be a great place for large groups because there are so many things to do -- a pool and hot tub, hiking, guided trails off-site, games in the common areas, and more. http://www.arenal-observatory.co.cr/EN/home.phtml While the volcano is active and you can hear it
from the Arenal Observatory Lodge, most of the lava is currently visible from
the Tabacon side of the volcano and not from the Arenal Observatory Lodge.
For us that didn't matter, because it was too cloudy to see the volcano at night
anyway. And we couldn't hear the volcano from Tabacon, although we could
from Arenal Observatory. |
| January 2005 - www.schipani.org Home |