8: Climbing or Hiking??

13.10.2012 – 13.10.2012 rain 26 °C

Early start today as were climbing up one of the other volcanos in this part of CR, Cerro Chato. Our day started with an early and wet walk down to the local bakery to pick up some tasty treats before we headed up towards the volcanos.

Our hike began at the observatory of the Arenal Volcano. Arenal is the largest of the volcanos in the area. It is a conical shaped volcano, that dwarfs the other mountains around it. Sadly, it was today shrouded in clouds. It is an active volcano and until the mid 2000s regularly erupted. Today, the volcano is again quiet. Apparently, on a clear day you can see some smoke still rising from the cone, and at night you can see a distant red glow. So far, I’ve seen none of these sites! In fact, I haven’t even seen the top of the volcano, I’ve only seen the base rising up above the town of La Fortuna. As a sideline, the town is so named because when the volcano erupted violently in 1968 it spared the small town on its side, hence the name Fortuna.

Our stop at the observatory was really not worth the effort. Everything is shrouded in a deep mist, so not much visibility of anything. We could briefly see the big man made lake next to the volcano, aptly named Arenal Lake. It is the lake we will cross in order for us to get to Monteverde in a few days time. The lake was created when a major river was dammed in the mid 20th C for hydro electric power generation. I think CR should be pretty proud because almost 70% of all power generated in CR is from hydro electric stations.

The hike was probably one of the steepest and most difficult I’ve ever tried to tackle. It’s a tricky hike because the ground is very muddy and therefore quite slippery. I really wouldn’t want to tackle the hike in a tropical downpour. The trail was not a well maintained trail, so much of the hike (or as I dubbed it, the climb) was us scrabbling in the mud. To get up some sections of the trail we needed to use our arms to haul ourselves up deep ‘stairs’ that have been cut into the side of the mountain. I was already stuffed after only the first thirty minutes of the climb, and in total it took us over an hour and a half to haul ourselves to the top of the crater.

For me, the hike was worth the effort, only because we were hiking inside a misty, wet rainforest. Anywhere else, and I would have to challenge why I would bother. I guess, because I hike for pleasure and for the chance to take photographs. We were hiking today to conquer a hill… Definitely not my style of hiking.

People hike Cerro Chato for a number of reasons. Mostly, so that you can get a view of the Arenal Volcano. Today, we got a brief glimpse of the top sides of the volcano when the clouds briefly parted.. Not long enough for me to get a shot, but I did get a glimpse. The other reason it is climbed is so that you can have a swim inside the crater of Cerro Chato. I didn’t go for a swim in the crater. In fact, I didn’t even finish the climb down into the crater. I was so stuffed that I preferred to use my rest time to finally take some photos of the CR jungle. Up until that time I had, had to pack away my camera because the climb was so steep that I needed both hands (and free legs- no camera in the way) to get myself up the mountain.

The climb back down wasn’t much better.. In fact, I hate climbing down mountains. I’ll climb up them all day (even though I’m totally stuffed), but I absolutely hate climbing back down. I find that I just can’t get my knees and ankles to flex enough to really have great balance on a slippery steep descent. Thankfully, I had hauled my walking stick up the mountain and it saved me from slipping down the slope so many times that I stopped counting.

All in all, by the time I made it to the bottom of the mountain, my legs were shaking so badly that I thought they wouldn’t even hold me up! I did have to keep asking myself on this hike why I was killing myself when I’m on holiday… My answer was always; How many times in your lifetime are you going to be able to climb up the sides of a recently extinct volcano inside a lush rainforest?? And I guess the better question for now on is; And why would I want to do it again?????? 🙂

On arrival back at the hotel, we all had a shower, took our hiking clothes to the laundry (as an example, my shoes were caked in the red mud and had radically changed colour) and headed out for a big lunch. Following a delicious, Tico, Cassado lunch (rice and beans, salad and chicken) Ursula and I booked ourselves in for a massage, did some shopping, had a tasty but extremely slow cup of coffee (30mins wait for the coffee to arrive and then 20mins wait to get the bill) and then actually had the massage..

The massage was bliss! So nice to have someone rub your poor tired muscles after a heavy day of hiking up a mountain. The only issue I had with the whole massage was the dog that was under my massage table barking, the donkey next door braying and the dogs next door fighting… Not quite the usual surrounds for a peaceful, relaxing massage! 🙂

Somehow, we still all had energy that evening to hit La Fortuna’s festival again.. I’m not too sure how we did it but we all headed back to the festival grounds for another night of crazy dancing on the top floor of the created night club. Tonight though, we weren’t the only people dancing.. In fact, the place was so packed that for much of the night our dancing was up and down on the spot. Its pretty funny but the local Tico’s prefer to dance to Latin American salsa style music. So when the DJ would play a set of local music the dance floor would be packed… As soon as more western style music came over the PA the dance floor would go strangely quiet and the only people dancing were tourists! Very funny to see!! Somehow, even with such a massively energetic day none of us fell into bed before 1am… I really must be crazy!

4 thoughts on “8: Climbing or Hiking??

  1. Your also my kind of adventure girl! Now if I was younger!! I have done things like that in a past life and soo glad I did! You go girl! Sounds fantastic…! Kade would have loved to see the volcano!

  2. This line from your first paragraph – “walk down to the local bakery to pick up some tasty treats before we headed up towards the volcanos” – outlines just how surreal a world you are in. However, it demonstrates you have your priorities in the right place. Heading to possible death by volcano, need baked goods!

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