Arenal Part 2

I feel guilty I haven't been keeping up with my blog... tomorrow I am off on yet another adventure and I haven't even finished writing about my last one! Darn it... I am just having too much fun. Sorry.

So after my trip to Tabacon and nearly losing my glasses I headed back to the hotel and went to sleep in my giant room. For some bizarre reason I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. That was OK once I got over my denial of being awake I was able fill my whirlpool tub with water, which by the way took 1/2 hour, and lay in the tub while watching the sun rise over Arenal. Now that is fun!!

After I spent enough time soaking in the tub to get a bit pruny I got dressed and went for an early am walk. The morning was humid enough that the whole area was quite misty. I walked around and then headed to the buffet breakfast that was included with the room. The spread was quite nice and they had a great mix of Costa Rican and American breakfast choices. The restuarant features a absolutely stunning view of Arenal and the surrounding area.

After breakfast I went back to my room and set my chair in the doorway and watched the clouds go by on Arenal. Arenal never really showed itself... It really was a tease. It would give me a peak of the peak but never fully uncovered itself. Watching the clouds go by is a fun activity on it's own. The clouds move very quickly (many of the Arenal pictures I took below were taken within a couple of minutes of each other). They seem to race by the volcano so you are viewing an ever moving show. I noticed people tended to look at the clouds that were coming up in line to pass the volcano and say "After that cloud we should be able to see the peak." What I learned after a couple of hours of watching it was that there is ALWAYS another cloud coming.

Later I headed over to my Spa appointment. I set up a package appointment for a Volcanic Mud Wrap and Swedish Message. First I had the mud wrap and for this adventure they give you paper underwear to wear and paper slippers. I still can't say that there was any great lasting value to the mud wrap. They cover you in mud and then wrap you up like a giant burrito until the mud gets all crusty and dry. After the mud wrap the attendant has a warm shower already running for you. After I scrubbed the crusty mud they started in on the message. I don't think that getting a message while having a cold was the wisest choice. During the whole message while I was laying on my stomach I keep worrying start dripping from my nose on the floor. My head was so stuffy and tense that as the message moved up my back I started to feel uncomfortable. Overall the spa was very nice but messages with colds don't work for me.

After the message I had a great lunch in the restaurant and resumed my cloud watching until it was time to catch the bus back to San Jose.