Today I accidentally stepped on a snake and got chased by a coatimundi!

Today I accidentally stepped on a snake and got chased by a coatimundi! We headed out this morning to Volcan Arenal on the other end on the lake. Yesterday we traveled on the south side of Lake Arenal and today we explored the north side!

Lake Arenal

 

A dog just chilling in the middle of the road

We stopped by a cafe for breakfast called Cafe & Macadamia. It had great views of the lake and the food was really good too!

Breakfast platter!

candid breakfast picture

After breakfast we set out towards Arenal. The roads on this side of the lake are much nicer than the south side of the lake. Paved roads all the way and marked well with signs.

More cows

Finally as we drove around a bend in the road we caught our first glance at Volcan Arenal.

We continued on and make it to the Parque Nacional Volcan Arenal. We parked in an area for hiking and walked up to the first view point to look at the volcano. The clouds were covering the summit of the volcano and they gave it a very Mt. Olympus type look.

#strongagainstcancer

We then decided to do some hiking around the base of the volcano.

A weevil!

Bananas!

Pineapple!

We then walked into a more rainforesty area and while looking for lizards or birds I accidentally stepped on a snake. As I was walking I heard Adam yell from behind me. Apparently I had stepped on the tail of a snake. I never saw it but felt a little bad for it. It seemed to be alright though...at least that is what Michael and Adam said.

Rainforest!

Ants carrying leaves

Little snake we found! We now believe it was a baby eyelash viper...very poisonous

Looks like an Indiana Jones movie

It was very hot and humid walking through the forest part of the trail. After treking through the forest we finally made it to a view point and saw Volcan Arenal again.

We continued on until we finally looped back to the beginning of the hike. From there we were all pretty tired and hot. We had thought about going to a natural hot spring nearby, but the thought of a hot spring did not seem appealing after a few hours hiking around the hot humid rainforest. So we opted to return back to our airbnb. As we were traveling back we noticed that a bunch of coatimundis were out in the middle of the road. There are signs around telling people not the feed them and now we know why. As we slowed down so we wouldn't hit them, Michael and I rolled down the windows to take pictures. They started to follow the car. Suddenly two more came out of the brush and started running up to the car. We quickly sped away, but they looked very eager to join us inside the car.

The raccoons of South America

After we successfully evaded the coatimundis we continued back the way we came. We stopped by a German Bakery to grab a snack, and then made it back to our airbnb catching once last glance of Volcan Arenal.

Apfelstrudel und Ice!

Once we got back we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging. Michael took a nap, Adam sat out by the pool and swam, and I napped on the deck in the sun and then watched Netflix watching for the sunset.

For dinner we decided on a place near our airbnb. Every restaurant we've been here has had pizza or pasta on their menu, so I decided to go for spaghetti and meatballs.

It was pretty good!

After dinner we came back to the airbnb. The wind has started to pickup and it has started to rain. I wanted to see if I could take a picture of the stars but it seems like I'll have to wait another day. We don't have too much planned for tomorrow so it will be nice to just relax and enjoy Costa Rica.

Daily Step Count: 10,850

Total Step Count: 25,399