I walked around Mawamba before breakfast taking pictures of the lodge and grounds. It’s a great place with so much to see and do, but after breakfast and a picture of Martha and her new boyfriend, we packed up and went down to the docks. A 30-40 minute boat ride back up the river and then transferred to a van to go 40 minutes up a gravel road through thousands of Chiquita banana trees. The story is they don’t pave it because the loaded trucks would beat up a paved road.
We had a 2.5-hr. drive north and then west above San Jose to Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa. We stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch, Rio Danta Restaurant, Guapiles. The hotel is an expensive place on the side of the Arenal Volcano – an active volcano, but it is again, a very nice hotel with an incredible hot spring, that has a beautiful stream coming down the mountain. Lots of pools are built all along it, so you can have your own pool with a cabana. The further up the stream you go, the warmer it gets. Ed had been here before and wanted to stay longer. OK, I’m a big chicken, but why push your luck on the side of an active volcano? No worries though, and a great resort.
