Arenal | Miles To The Wild

This is one of the times when transport is more of an excursion in itself. If you book it from a hotel in Arenal, you will hear it called “jeep-boat-jeep” probably sounding something like “jeebojeep”. You can also book it online where it is called “taxi-boat-taxi” but there seems to be no problems with getting space, we booked the day before we traveled. It costs $25 per person and is well worth it considering you not only save time getting to Montverde, it’s a much prettier trip!

Actually there are no jeeps involved though I think they were in the past. Nowadays, you will be picked up at your lodge in a minibus and driven to the launch point in the lake. Please note how you have to carry your bag down a rocky path so using a backpack is an advantage.

Once the boat is full, you take off for a very pleasant and scenic trip across the lake. On a clear day, you can see Arenal Volcano! The day we went was very cloudy and it rained halfway across the lake so we had only fleeting glimpses.

Once you reach the other side, you will be transferred into another minibus. They will allocate one to you such as A, B or C. The road to Monteverde is equally as scenic but the road is a lot rougher. For a brief minute, we had a nice view of Arenal Volcano before it got covered by clouds again.

You can barely see Arenal in the background

Up until now, there will have been no bathroom stops nor is there one on the boat so I recommend going easy on the coffee at breakfast! About 30km out of Monteverde, we stopped at a small restaurant/gift shop as many people needed the facilities.

After using them, I heard a parrot squawking nearby and was hoping to see a wild one. I was half right. He WAS a wild parrot, a Yellow-naped Amazon/Parrot to be precise; but no longer. His wings were clipped so he couldn’t fly. He walked along the beams and looked at us with curiosity but didn’t want to come any closer. I just wish there was some way to free him as he belongs with his family flying free in the rainforest, but without the ability to fly it would be useless as he can’t evade predators.

After everyone had finished using the bathrooms, they called us back and we proceeded to the town of Monteverde where everyone was taken direct to their accommodation.

The Arenal/La Fortuna area is the prime tourist destination in Costa Rica. There is something for everyone here-volcano viewing, hot springs, zip-lining, nature hikes. Birding here isn’t as good as other places in Costa Rica but Arenal made a nice rest stop in between birding trips.

The lodge is a fair ways out of town but that won’t matter if you use tourist shuttles as they drop you off and pick you up.

The Volcano Lodge has amazing views of Arenal and beautiful gardens and hiking trails. I chose this place because it was the halfway part of our trip and thought we could use a time-out to relax in the jacuzzi and enjoy some light bird watching on the grounds. The rooms were fairly large and we got a great one near the reception with a volcano view from the window!

We saw some Hummingbirds, Oropendulas and Greater Kiskadees in the garden and the flowers were gorgeous!

I really liked the artwork in the restaurant/bar/pool area and the food was really good too! We had lunch, went for a swim, then relaxed in the jacuzzi for awhile. We were planning to go birding in the afternoon but our plans got rained out. We still had a good time chatting with other tourists as we hung out in the bar for happy hour watching the rain pour down.

The next morning, the weather was nice but we had already booked the onward transportation so only had time for a short walk. We didn’t see any new birds from the day before, just the usual Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds so we headed down for breakfast which was included in the price and very good!