Sunday March 9, 2014
We were up even earlier today so we could pack our bags and check out. Still no good wildlife sightings at Treehouses; not even the same number of birds we saw at breakfast yesterday. Breakfast today was scrambled eggs, beans, a sweet fruity cornbread muffin and fried plantains, and of course lots of fruit. Mallory again ate just about nothing.
Our driver came to pick us up to take us to the river put in for our morning safari float trip. The drive was not long, less than 20 minutes. We passed a ton of cyclists and road runners, and deduced that there must have been an organized run event going on – way too many to be a coincidence! As soon as we arrived at the riverfront, Mallory threw up yet again, much to my dismay – I really thought she’d seemed better the night before. The day was not shaping up well.
Several other vehicles of rafters came after us – all told we put five boats into the water. We shared a raft with an older female couple who were avid birders. Our guide Carlos (yes again, different Carlos though) narrated the trip and pointed out lots of animals – iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards, many kinds of birds, and finally we got to see as well as hear howler monkeys – we saw several troops of them in the treetops and were treated to a lot of howling! Toward the end of the trip, Mallory finally started to feel better. She ate half a fruit bar, and asked if she could help paddle. It was a welcome change in demeanour.
We pulled out of the water and had a snack of cookies and fruit and juice on the riverbank while another troupe of monkeys watched from a tree above us. Chad was disappointed not to have seen a croc or caiman, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the trip, and the kids loved it too. The outfitter was Adventuras Arenal – booked through the Treehouses Hotel. We were able to have them drop us off at Los Lagos, our next hotel, thereby saving a transfer fee.
This hotel is right up on the flank of the Arenal volcano – I was actually surprised by how close we were. We got to Los Lagos before noon, and our room was not guaranteed until 3 pm, so we walked the grounds, checked out the crocodiles and butterfly garden and ant farm and gift shop, then had lunch at the on-site Las Palmas restaurant. Chad had another casado, which he deemed much tastier than the first, and Liam knew enough now to order his hamburger without the extra slice of ham! Mallory wanted plain buttered noodles, and it was just nice to see her eating something happily and keeping it down.
After lunch we checked on our room again, and it was ready (#124 – great location very close to the main pool and restaurant) so we unpacked and settled in a bit, then changed into swimwear and hit the pools. We spent the whole afternoon jumping from the cold pool to the hot springs and back again. DS conquered the big waterslide, which nearly killed me on my first and probably last run – very fast and very scary! Thankfully, Mallory was just as anxious to swim as the rest of us – I was so glad that she was feeling better! The hot springs were hot, but not too hot for the kids which was nice – they really enjoyed it. It was Sunday and there seemed to be a lot of locals using the hot springs, but the resort was not at all crowded.
I brought Mallory back to our hotel room earlier than the boys came back, and she found ‘How to Train your Dragon’ on tv in Spanish and promptly fell asleep – no wonder, all that swimming with no fuel in her little body. The boys were out til dark. We were all ready for something to eat then, so we cleaned up a bit and then went back to Las Palmas because we were too beat to consider doing a meal off-site. They did grilled cheese for the kids, I had a tilapia casado, and Chad had the arroz con pollo. After dinner we crashed in our room, the kids wrote in their journals and I did some reading before bed.
Cook Family Travels 