On Day 2 (Sunday, September 27, 2026) we got up early and had breakfast at the Holiday Inn. There was a nice painting on the staircase down to the restaurant. I love how the yellow, orange, and read swirled to make this rooster. It kind of reminds me of the same technique my sister Christa used to make a painting of her dog. And I think it is really just two colors mixed together, red and yellow. Though perhaps there is some brown. It would be interesting to try to recreate it.

The restaurant is right next to the pool, just a little below the same level, but they have made it so it is completely secluded from it. Nice decorations. Great color schme.

Rice and Beans and plantains were staples of every meal. In addition to this you could order a custom omelette. They also had several varieties of fruit.

Our first bus transfer was a little rockier than expected. The bus was to pick us up at 7:30. Which I found surprising, because I did not see that in the itinerary of my Exoticca app. Instead I saw vagaries of “On your second day you will take a bus to the beautiful area of La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano.” Come to find out there is a detailed itinerary with just the important details such as times, confirmation codes, and contact numbers is in a PDF document in a different part of the app. And there is a number you can contact through WhatsApp with any questions. They are extremely responsive.

When we get out there at 7:15, we see a white van with “tourismo” written on it. I ask the driver if he is going to Arenal. He tells me ‘no’ that it is a different bus. He doesn’t speak English so this is all through a translation application.

Linus sends a message to our tour operator after the time for our bus has come and nothing shows up. “They are running 15 minutes late. Guest at the other location was delayed checking out.” We wait and then another bus shows up. We ask him if he is our driver, he says no. Then we message the tour operator again, “He will be there in 5 minutes.” We keep waiting and eventually that same driver comes to us and says “Are you Roberto Prince?” I say “Robert Price?” And he says “Yes”. It is our bus. They had us down as “Robert Price, Nathan”. We began the 3 hour journey to Arenal.

We sat near the back of the van. Not the best place if you have trouble with motion sickness. This was a problem for Sonia and Linus. Shirley was prepared with these “Ginger Chews”.

We stopped along the way. Ended up getting a few items. One was this sloth holding a salt and pepper shaker.

At the cash register there were a lot of currencies under the glass. One of them caught our eye, “Japanese Rupee” (It is the “five rupees” note in the second column and not the one being pointed to.) This was used in Nepal during the occupation by Japan during World War II.

At the cantina next door, there was toucan just hanging out on the fan.

And across the way there were nice views.

Along the way we saw many sights including little waterfalls.

We stayed at the Hotel Eco Arenal. It was a really new, and nice hotel.

Lots of beautiful plants.

We ended up eating at Mary’s BBQ right across from the hotel.

I got the tomahawk. It is a BIG steak. I got it in surf and turf style with some shrimp. It was really nice. But next time I recommend splitting it between a few people.

Then we caught our bus to go on the hike up Arenal.

There were several other people on the hike with us. One was a person that worked for the Japanese government in Nicaragua which borders Costa Rica on the north. She was down here to vacation.

Afterwards we went to the hot springs. These are naturally heated. But are really like a pool.

We got dinner afterwards.

And that was a wrap for day 2.