Hotel Stay!

I am so relieved we made it with very minimal stress. Besides my passport score and rushing to catch our connecting flight since we only had one hour everything went very smooth.

The hotel we are stayed at is called Arenal Observatory Lodge. It is only 1.7 miles from the Arenal Volcano. The five of us stayed in the La Carsona room, which has 3 bunk beds, luckily we all had our own bed. "La Carsona" huts are 500 meters from the main building and there are 5 huts. There is a common hut with two bathrooms and a shower that all 5 huts use. This was great because it contributed to meeting other people. This hotel is awesome for the amazing price we got. It has mini fridges in every room, a swimming pool, a kids pool, jacuzzi, jungle view, volcano view, lava view, game room, currency exchange, coffee services, safe hiking trails, free breakfast. It was $114 per night for all 5 of us.

Since we had free breakfast every morning that saved us a lot of money. Box lunches daily are $8.50 per person and we got a voucher for 2 free per person for staying for the whole week. So 4 of the 7 days we ate box lunches so that was $17 USD per person. One of the days we ate lunch with the guys we surfed with so that was free. Another day we ate at the natural site so that was also free. We also ate at the museum one day so that was free as well.

For dinner the last night we ate at Cascajo’s del Arenal which our friends who gave us surfing lessons suggested was the best restaurant. Mary Beth and I had the Mountain Rice, a mixture of rice with mushrooms, broccoli florets, sweet peppers, green beans, etc... all perfectly cooked and presented. Alex, Mark, and Noah had the Volcano steak...steak with a pepper, onion, tomato, jalapeno sauce blend they also were very pleased. I took a picture of their steak because it looked so delicious. Overall the total bill was a very reasonable $72 USD. The first night the hotel gave us a complimentary dinner because anyone who stays for a full week gets two free lunch vouchers and one free dinner. The other nights we went to a little strip of local grocery stores, stores, and restaurants for dinner that the hotel manger told us about. It was a little less than a mile away. I had rice, salad, or chicken for dinner every night since I am so picky. Two of the nights we went to the grocery store and grabbed premade plates they had that we could put in the microwave. The total for the four nights was $179 with tips included.

The total for accommodation: (114 x 6 nights) + (18 tip) = $684 usd

The total for food:

Breakfast- $0

Lunch-(2 days of boxed lunches)- $85

Dinner- Cascaio- $72 + $179= $251

Total= $336

Total for food and hotel = $1,010