We certainly have a type. From Mexico to Guatemala to Nicaragua, some of our favorite spots along our travels have been mountain lakes. And who would disagree: impressive imagery, spectacular sunsets, easy exercise, convenient cleaning, picturesque pueblas - these spots have it all. It would therefore surprise absolutely no one that - after several weeks of feeling a bit out of sorts in Costa Rica - we found our groove on the shores of Lake Arenal. In fact, we ended up setting a personal record by staying in the same spot for twelve days, wading through the waves, exploring the town, and relaxing in the “living room” that we set up in the shade of the nearby trees.
On the morning that we left the coast (beautiful, but too hot), we didn’t even have a specific destination in mind. As usual when we need to cool off, we knew we wanted to gain elevation and camp near a body of freshwater, and that Lake Arenal - located in the center of Costa Rica - would fit both of these requirements. After some iOverlander scouting, we decided to give the town of Nuevo Arenal a try, as previous vanlifers had been able to camp for free along the park at the lake.
We couldn’t have designed a better spot. We awoke each morning to the sounds of birds and howler monkeys; over the course of our stay, we were graced by parakeets, toucans, and oropendolas on our little peninsula (if you’re less familiar with the last one, it’s worth a minute to hear and see the call of the Montezuma Oropendola). We enjoyed coffee and breakfast in a little cove of trees, where we set up our “living room”, complete with a couple of chairs, a table, and a hammock. We quickly became known - and got to know - many of the local dogwalkers and birdwatchers who came by the area in the mornings and afternoons. By the end of our stay, we were practically holding court as our newfound friends came by to chat and let the dogs play together. We even became impromptu dogwalkers; after we learned that one of our friends fell and hurt her collarbone, we took her energetic Airedale for a long walk to enjoy some pizza and beer at a lakefront beer garden.
In addition to hanging out around our car, we were able to explore all of Neuvo Arenal (this did not take too long, as the whole town in about 30 square blocks). We stopped by the local Indian restaurant for a delicious lunch one day and relaxing chai another (again, who is surprised?), had pastries and coffee at the German bakery, and figured out which grocery store had various items for us to enjoy. Clark even got a new haircut, instructing the barber only in Spanish! The town was very hilly, which meant that we got an excellent cardio workout in on the days that we went running (V’s note: emphasis on VERY!). On other afternoons, we took our inflatable paddleboard out on the lake and went swimming around the bay once Vrinda was assured that no monsters would come up and grab her. Of course, we also took some time to catch up on the blog and our research as well, working out our most important muscle.
Each day we thought we would leave, it seemed like we came up with some excuse to stay “just one more day.” Just one more restaurant to try. Just one more morning to take out the paddleboard. Just one more day before we had to repack everything to move on to the next adventure. Eventually we had to get going as we were running out of power: no driving to charge our house batteries and increasingly cloudy afternoons as it changed to rainy season meant we got less and less solar. But we could definitely do more of this. Getting to know a place and its people to the point where we were trading our favorite restaurant recommendations and greeting each other on the street. Setting up an extra “room” to spread out and enjoy the surrounding nature. Not repacking the car every other day.