“Castle in the Clouds” at Lake Arenal

After 3 nights in Monteverde, we drove down the eastern slope of the Tilarán Cordillera to Lake Arenal.  This stunningly beautiful lake sits in a basin formed by the Tilarán mountains to the south-west, some gorgeous, hilly country to the north and east and two towering volcanoes, one at each end of the lake, Volcán Tenorio at the western end and Volcán Arenal at the east.

We were pretty worn out from our adventures of the previous week and took a few days to rest at a beautiful VRBO rental in the hills above the sleepy pueblo (village) of El Castillo with an absolutely stunning view of Lake Arenal and the Arenal Volcano!  Being situated in the town of ‘El Castillo’ and being the most elevated property on the slope, the house is known locally as ‘El Castillo de las Nubes’ (castle in the clouds) or simply ‘Nubes’, for short. The house is set inside the cattle and horse pasture of a local farmer and so we had to be sure to close the gate or we might end up with a bull standing in our front yard!

We spent the days catching up on sleep, emails and school work, practicing violin, reading and simply enjoying the stunning views.

Outings were limited mainly to birdwatching and photography hikes up the horse track behind the house, where every 100m further a new ridge afforded views even more stunning than the last.  Howler monkeys could be heard down in the forested valleys and Keel-billed Toucans, Great Kiskadees, Brown Jays, Montezuma Oropendolas and numerous hummingbird species kept me with binoculars always at hand!

We quickly got accustomed to the daily rhythm of the weather.  The volcano could usually be seen most clearly in the early morning when the toxic vapours venting from the top were sometimes visible.  Since 1968 the Arenal Volcano has been Costa Rica’s most active with nearly constant eruptions until 2010, when it entered a dormant period. It used to put on quite a light show at night when you could see lava spouting at the top. These days it only emits fumaroles – puffs of vaporized water and other toxic gases which were still super interesting to watch!  Often by midday, clouds and mists would roll in over the top of the hills and heavy rains typically set in for an hour or two each afternoon.  The rain fell so hard one afternoon when we had gone down into the village for ice cream, that we were unsure if the track up the hillside would even be passable.  The roads had no drainage and so the roads quickly turned into rivers.  However, the water seemed to drain away as quickly as it came and the daily life of the locals (and us) continued as before.

• arenal volcano
• brown jay
• castle in the clouds
• cattle
• el castillo de las nubes
• great kiskadee
• hiking
• horses
• howler monkeys
• hummingbirds
• keel-billed toucan
• laguna
• lake arenal
• mists
• montezuma oropendula
• pasture
• tenorio volcano
• tilarán
• tropical kingbird
• volcán