Road to Tilaran

We started our last morning at Termales del Bosque with a horseback ride.  This was the first time both boys had been on a horse, and it was a small and happy step out of especially Henry’s comfort zone.  He was pretty nervous, and he ended up with a pokey horse named Mariposa who kept lagging behind or stopping to eat grass.  I expected Henry to freak out a bit, but he kept his cool, even on the sketchy downhill parts.  He ended up enjoying it very much.  Sullivan got to ride with Nik and hold the reins, so he had no issues and also enjoyed it very much.  The surroundings were the best part; we had wide open views of Volcan Platanar (which fed our hot spring soaks for the last 2 days) and the hills around.  We could see Volcan Arenal off in the distance.  Our guide also took us through some wooded areas, where Madeleine spotted a toucan-like bird.

We had a rather long drive to Tilaran, via a town called Muelle, where small crowds of iguanas at a riverside restaurant attract small crowds of tourists.  There were iguanas on the patio, on the walls, in the trees, getting into the trash, and we watched one successfully cross the road (...to get to the other side, I guess).  

Hungry iguanas in Muelle

From Muelle we took a scenic route to Arenal, meaning about 30+km of unpaved, very rocky roads.  Nik enjoyed the driving, which was easier in our current rental Mitsubishi SUV than similar driving was back in October in our smaller and lower rented sedan.  Still, it was slow going and tiring.  Thankfully our kids are now conditioned to this kind of driving and did not complain.  Sully even slept though some of it.

We enjoyed some familiar views of Arenal volcano, near where we stayed in October, and the windy road around Lake Arenal.  We stopped for gas and a quick tour of the town of Nuevo Arenal, then continued on to Tilaran, which we have been thinking will be our new home.  Tilaran looks relaxed and tidy, with a very attractive church and town square at the center.  We saw several groceries, a produce store and plenty of restaurants and other businesses.  We chose a hotel just outside of town because it had a pool with a water slide, the Hotel Cielo Azul.  The owner kindly moved beds around to accommodate us, and he told us that his sister has a house for rent.  Our first lead!  

Lake Arenal

Evening view from Hotel Cielo Azul

The night sky here is full of stars; we look forward to expanding our constellation repertoire.  The winds are impressive here too.  It is no wonder that the hills around Tilaran are decorated with wind turbines.  

Tomorrow we get down to business looking for a house to rent!

-Erica