Direction Monteverde

Monday March 17th

Today we are mostly driving to reach Monteverde / Santa Elena on the other side of the Lake Arenal.
Yesterday, we had spotted a long line of cars parked on the side of the road so we are suspecting there might be some hot springs there. We stop and look around and discover a little river, waist deep with a water probably around 40C! We go back to the car, get our swimming suits on and head for a "nature" hot springs experience. Benjamin likes it so much that he does not want to leave...

Then we get started around the lake, and after a stop to watch some coatis crossing the road and some snacks at the German bakery (where some german tourists warn us about the detour we will have to take because the road is closed), we have lunch in Tiluran (very good soda) and hit the dirt road!

This would not have been so bad if (as we were warned), the road was not closed (collapsing???). Of course we miss the sign in spanish, luckily a motorcycle catches up with us and explain how to go around the closed road. We are sent into the mountain unpaved backroads with a Toyota Corolla, very primitive directions (go down the mountain, back up and then turn left) and very poor spanish knowledge for what ends up being several hours of very tough driving up and down steep roads full of gravels and rocks!
We finally arrive in Santa Elena where we will stay in Terra Firma Farm for 3 nights.
Once there, we get a few disclaimers from the owners: breakfast is served at 7 am (not starting at 7am, but AT 7 am) and we might see some SCORPIONS in our casita!!!! They come at night and like wood (the whole casita is made of wood) but they are not lethal (now I feel much better about it...).

It does not take long and the first night, we are face to face with our first scorpion that we manage to kill with the broom. We will get a second one the second night (much more efficiently killed with a shoe) and find a dead one with the pots and pans. No need to say that our 3 nights there were not very relaxed and I checked our beds and shoes many times during these few days...

Very nice diner at Sabor Tico in Santa Elena.