We’ve just arrived at the Linda Vista del Norte hotel near the town of La Fortuna. The (still quite active) Arenal volcano dominates the skyline, and is making it’s presence felt by chucking out rocks and ash right before our eyes. Unfortunately my pollen allergies have started to play up after 8 days of being completely unaffected, so we’ve not managed to do much since arriving…

The 150km drive up from Canas has to be one of the most impressive since we arrived. The usual green rural areas full of grazing cattle and horses were soon joined first by an enormous Lake, followed by the impressive sight of Arenal itself which even from a distance seemed majestic. I knew we were staying fairly near the volcano itself, but seeing it fill the entire window of our hotel room and watching it throw stuff out every now and again can’t help but make me feel just a bit nervous.

Unfortunately, the same level of grandeur can’t be applied to the quality of the hotel. It’s one of those places that looks like it was seemingly thrown together cheaply back in the ‘70’s in a less than timeless style. We’re again staying in a “honeymoon suite”, but with dreadful chintz for bedside furniture, ageing paintwork and a poorly stocked minibar with only the national ale as an option, I definitely wouldn’t want to be spending my honeymoon here. On the upside, we have a superb view of Arenal from our window, but when you can’t even coax hot water out of the tap…