Ill-advised Influence of Trip Advisor

Like many travelers, we used Trip Advisor to help coordinate activities on our vacation throughout Costa Rica. Craving exploration and wildlife, we preferred self-guided hikes rather than bus tours and museums. During our research, one of the top-five attractions in Arenal was to hike Cerro Chato (it has since dropped) in the Arenal Volcano National Park. Cerro Chato is a dormant volcano adjacent to the Arenal Volcano amd it promises a challenging hike with a rewarding view. None of us had ever scaled a dormant volcano before and we had an insatiable appetite for adventure that morning.

Didn't look so bad from the gazebo

We drove to the Arenal Observatory Lodge, paid the $8 admission and were provided a trail map of the park. Plotting our course, we traveled through open fields and passed old farms littered with cattle, finally, we reached the base of Cerro Chato after traversing a few kilometers. The ascent is nice and easy the first 200 meters, however, the path quickly becomes muddier as you progress and the obstacles more difficult. I am not sure what was worse, the steepening hike or the oppressive blanket of humidity - surely, a combination of both.

The beginning of the trail

There were very few hikers on the dormant volcano, we may have seen 15 people in passing the entire time we spent on the trail. Our friends were feeling very spry this morning, they pressed on while Julie and I took a break. While resting, we came across a lone hiker on his descent, looking for reassurance, we asked if we were close to the top - only to be dismayed by the reality that we were about halfway. The rest of the hike was miserable, we saw no wildlife and the heat was overbearing. After two hours, we finally made it to the top, enjoyed the view, but I don't think any of us would categorize the experience as "rewarding." Now, if getting to the top came with a free admission to Tabacon thermal springs, I would consider that a reward. We spent plenty of time enjoying the view and planning our hike back towards civilization, but the last sequence of our strange coincidences was to unfurl.

View from the top of Cerro Chato

To back track a little, before our trip to Costa Rica, Julie and I had been living out of suitcases for a week and a half. We were moving to Germany on the twenty-first of April and our household goods were packed up and shipped off at the beginning of the month. The day previous to our hike of Cerro Chato we had the inconvenience of our car key breaking, however, we made the most of the situation by enjoying the thermal springs of Tabacon. While sitting in one of the many thermal pools in the resort, we just so happened to sit next to a couple from our soon to be former hometown. The following day, we encountered a limited number of people as we hiked Cerro Chato. While at the top of the dormant volcano, we were joined by a family of three which we overheard speaking a foreign language. It sounded like German, but I was still in the nascent stages of learning the language and wasn't sure, so I asked where they were from. As it turns out, the family lived in Mannheim, a town approximately 45 minutes from where Julie and I were moving. The adage, "small world" is and obvious oxymoron, although, the phrase has never been more surreal than it was during this moment atop Cerro Chato. For Julie and me, it was as if the memories of our past and the memories of our future were put into this perfect perspective in the present. As we made our way back to the Observatory Lodge, all I could think about was the statistical likelihood of the events that had transpired in the past twenty hours. Starting with breaking a rental car key, ending up in a thermal spring resort, then meeting a family from our hometown, hiking a dormant volcano, and to top it all off, meet a family that lives near our future home. My best guess, the odds of these events would be equal to, 0.0016180339887% (yes, number specifically chosen if first three zeros removed and relocate decimal point).

We finished our visit to Arenal with our best dinner of the trip at Essence, here, patrons help prepare the meal with the chef using fresh ingredients. The experience was great and the food excellent, their menu is strictly vegetarian, but should not discourage carnivores - it will surprise you. Our trip was drawing to a close and we had one more city to, Monteverde.

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