Friday 22nd January 2016
 
Believe it, or believe it not but by 6.45a.m. we are up, dressed, showered, packed and ready to go. It's been a noisy night in the jungle. At 5 a.m. a large branch of a tree crashed to the ground smashing into many pieces as it landed just a few metres from our cabin, back to sleep and then awoken by Howler monkeys at 5.30 doing their usual early morning calls! 
We clear out our room and take our bags down to the hotel dock on the river ready for our transfer to the airstrip. We get to breakfast early and say our farewells to Ann and Ian our Scottish pals and then join Eddie for the 10 minute boat ride to the 'Airport' The Torteguero airstrip really is a 1 off. Not somewhere you would fly to or from unless you really wanted to. The plane is a tiny 10 seater, with just enough space, thank God also, for a pilot and co pilot!
The terminal building - and I say that in the loosest sense of the word - must have been built around the Second World War and hasn't changed one iota since. Not a repair or a coat of paint. The roof hangs off at a seriously dangerous angle and the toilets, if I dare call them that have not had a visitor in I guess 20 years other than a passing spider or bug. I do not even dare enter the 3 roomed building. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, there are neither doors nor windows, it's just a bare concrete building as you'll hopefully see on my photos eventually. So don't even think about duty free or a cuppa to while a way a minute or two! It's just not that sort of place at all.
We are in good time as it's now 7.30a.m. and our flight is due to leave at 8.10am we 'check in' and that is an old wooden bench, again circa 1940 something with some official looking papers and the check in lady is very helpful and official, dressed in T.shirt, shorts and trainers. She weighs our main luggage, she weighs our carry on bags, then both Peter and I take turns to hold our carry on bags and then we step, completely onto a set of Avery scales again circa pre war and are promptly weighed once more. The one other member of staff seems to take on the jobs of security, air traffic control, supervisor and anything else you can think of, decked out in his high Viz jacket.
Our plane should be going straight to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica taking approximately 32 minutes, but firstly 3 passengers haven't yet turned up, they eventually do at 8a.m.!!! Secondly the Airport is having it bi-annual inspection by 2 officials, but thirdly we have to head to Limon a major town 20 minutes flight south to collect more passengers, so not only are we late leaving, but we will be late arriving into San Jose, thus making 2 take offs and TWO landings in a minute aircraft, for a certain nervous flyer, who is writing this tome!!!
Peter climbs the 3 steps into the aircraft doubles himself into two and gets into a sort of comfortable position in the right-hand side of the plane with me sat beside him, gosh it's snug! All aboard and we tear down the runway and wow we are up, up and away. Yes, I am enjoying it. Somehow in a tiny plane, you just feel more in control, and the pilot was a most pleasant guy when we had a great conversation with him on the Tarmac. Oh this does sound so .......... Anyway we are 20 minutes to Limon, a busy port on the Caribbean coast, then with a few passengers getting off and a few more getting on, as Peter and I are on the back seat before the gap where passengers embark, we notice there are a couple getting on, but only one seat next to one of the officials behind the pilots. The lady moves to this position and her husband suggests in his deep Canadian accent that maybe he is supposed to sit on the bit of available floor space between the back row of seats and the cabin baggage area!!! Quickly, the second official is despatched to Limon airport lounge and the Canadian takes that seat and off we go again, with a quick flick of an elastic band, we are hurtling along the airstrip and up into the wide blue yonder and safely on our way, yes they did know their way to San Jose.
Once we collect our luggage from next to the cafe in the airport hanger! Very casual it is, we are met by our driver who is going to transfer us the 3 hours, via a Volcano visit to our next Hotel in Arenal. He seems pretty naft off that we're an hour late - I could have told him we were none to pleased - but that would have been totally lost in translation. 
We get to Volcano Poas 8850 feet above sea level, which is a very interesting Volcano, but extremely smelly due to the sulphur lake at the top, which a beautiful, milky turquoise. But as it descends into cloud - a reason why Mr. Misery  'Our guide' was unhappy with our planes tardiness - Ze Cloud comes down very quickly! Well we got to see it before it does and smell it before he whizzes us off to a waterfall (we didn't find out their were beautiful gardens next to it!) a were sat in a nearby restaurant were we were swallowing desert before our knives and forks were on the empty main course plates, whereby coffee was poured, drunk and Peter and I were lo n behold having our siesta on the back seat of the vehicle as Happiness was breaking the speed of light. Arenal here we come.
The Volcano at Arenal is 5450 feet above sea level, it is one of the most active Volcanos in the world and its last, major eruption in 1968 sadly totally destroyed two villages and killed 87 people. In 3 days of staying in Hotel Manoa, Arenal with rooms less than a mile away, due to the clouds that sit over the summit we just once see a very faint outline of the top. On our way our dear driver tries very hard to redeem himself and hearing of our wildlife seeing adventures manages to spot along the way firstly a family of Howler monkeys, then a family of about a dozen Racoons but as we turn into the driveway of our hotel, there is a Mummy Sloth with her baby clutching on hard. Oh what a moment, I am utterly beside myself taking pictures and just loving watching them both. We've drawn quite a crowd, it gets like this when someone is looking up in a tree, a throng follows, but it's such an amazing sight.
Arenal is a busy touristy area. There are dozens of hotels around here due to the hot springs in the area. There are all kinds of activities, zip wires, cycling, Quad bikes, it really is a adrenaline a place. Our hotel is lovely set amongst the most fabulous gardens, the rooms are all semi detached buildings set up the hills over looking the Volcano. There are 2 swimming pools in different areas of the complex, one is a hot springs pool and Jacuzzi with a great bar and cafe the other is set next to a small lake (beware of the Cayman, is sign you must notice!) where the main restaurant is also sited. I think we're going to like it here!