Nuevo Arenal, Sunday

Sun 12th 1111 Didn't sleep that badly but was tossing and turning a bit in bed and although I had been awake for a bit I was in bed when 10am alarm went off and didn't get up til about 1030. Not a big deal and kind of the point of being here, but slightly disappointing all the same. Maybe the alcohol and snacking are taking their toll on me, hhos.

Been up to reception and paid for the extra two nights, some minor confusion but no big deal and got charged at 580ish/USD and paid CRC cash so all good - perhaps lucky I got the woman instead of the bloke I have down as the owner.

Will head over to El Establo in 30-60minsish for lunch, plan is to not drink alcohol today but will probably have coffees and will snack on the galletas de naranja I have left. Tomorrow we'll see, I will probably go over to El Corral for lunch and maybe get some snacks (eg if they have any of this range of "baked" snacks like the empanadas and galletas, those are at least "local try here or maybe never" stuff, unlike the crispy things which I can buy anywhere in CR) but may resist temptation to bring a beer back, and depending how I'm feeling I may have coffee at the restaurant upstairs tomorrow night, we'll see.

They are cleaning room now, I hid the beer can in my bag just to be safe. Tempted to turn down offer of clean but felt silly, vaguely nice to get new sheets etc even if not super necessary after just three nights.

Wrt alcohol not withstanding the accidental slight overdoing of it in La Fortuna hostel that night, I think the thing is do drink it infrequently enough or in "special" enough situations that it feels enjoyable. Eg I did enjoy beer after a weekish off in LF, I did enjoy having a beer lunch/evening the day I got here, I did kind of enjoy (perhaps just the sneaky feeling of it) the beer outside room yesterday but last night for whatever reason was a bit "meh" .

Apart from a tiny bit of exercise the only "must do" today is booking a hostel in Liberia (I am not 100% sure how to pronounce that, but I'm sure I'll find out - it's a question of where the stress goes and whether there are any accents, plus maybe an unhelpful influence from "libreria" ). I may have a quick look at that before I go for lunch but perhaps best not as I might feel rushed into it. As I said last night, I want somewhere sociable (ideally with lots of "solo traveller" reviews, on the offchance some hostels are more solo-popular/friendly) and for experience/cost saving I do intend to go for a dorm, although if a "good" hostel on other grounds happens to have private rooms at negligible extra cost I'd probably be silly to pass that up, although it does feel unlikely. Even if I don't do a massive burst of last minute washing (it does suck to have slightly damp clothes in transit) I should be fine for clothes for three nights in a dorm after private rooms here+Cañas, and if I like Liberia and the hostel sufficiently to want to extend I can always spring for paid laundry and hopefully still come out financially ahead compared to private room.

It is vaguely scary to be coming up on 4 weeks into the trip, but that is only a bit over a third of the way through and I guess I have actually done quite a bit of stuff one way or another.

Feels vaguely awkward being here (outside) while they are cleaning my room but it is what it is. It's just a smidge early for lunch, plus I am not wearing fleece and it's cool enough that it would probably be best to go get it from inside before walking over to EE. Not to mention that (touch wood etc) in the unlikely event of a serious dog incident, having the fleece for waving/thrashing around/trying to smother the animal as a pseudo-weapon is probably better than nothing.

Also feels vaguely deprived to "have" to survive today on the half bag of galletas and lunch, but of course that's silly, as in general I am just eating the one meal a day anyway and it was absolutely fine when I did it the other day. And there will be coffees in the restaurant on top of that and in reality I won't actually be hungry at all, never mind not being hungry enough for it to be more than a minor nuisance.

Raining now. Forecast seems to only ever show tiny amounts of precipitation, maybe it's right and it's just the heavyish but not for very long nature of the rain that makes me think the forecast is wrong.

I will be a bit sad to leave here and the "shadow of the future" is present since I kind of fixed my end date, which taints the "relaxing doing nothing" feeling a bit, but at the same time I still have today and tomorrow with really very little to do and I think it probably is sensible to move on. I don't have specific plans to "be active doing X" once I've got to Liberia, but I will probably be walking round town (also in Cañas), doing touristy activities (whatever seems available and interesting), taking day trips out to nearby places, trying to get up early, psychological "strain" to trying to socialise, etc.

1140 I'm aware it's Valentine's Day when I leave here on Tuesday. Don't expect it to be a problem, I doubt there's a huge surge of people from Nuevo Arenal to Cañas on VD and I already have my hotel booked.

That reminds me I kept meaning to note that the tour guide for the volcano tour in La Fortuna said that day (a Monday IIRC?) was the first day back at school after the long holiday (2 months? he said it used to be 4 when he was a kid IIRC, and he wasn't particularly old-looking, maybe early 30s at a guess).

Random thought: I keep being given paper sachets of sugar with the coffee here and even though I wouldn't back home, I keep stuffing them in my pockets on some vague "might come in handy" principle *because* I am on holiday and don't just trivially have the ability to go into my kitchen in the unlikely event I want/need some sugar.

(I dunno, maybe in the same circumstances as the volcano park day when I was a bit pseudo-hungover and hungry and gorged on a packet of extra strong mints, having a few packets of sugar might be vaguely morale-boosting. Of course if I'd *known* I would be feeling hungry etc I could have made better plans, but I hadn't so it was lucky I had the mints on me, and it might be the same with the sugar.)

1155 Let's head out for lunch.

1415 Outside room, there was a dog on road on walk from from El Estable (which incidentally is probably linked in some way with an adacent horse stable business, Establos Arenal IIRC) but it looked slightly street dog ish - not sure it was, but apart from barking at me a couple of times as I walked past and mildly shitting me up it was fine (it also wasn't *that* big).

Despite what said earlier was feeling warm after walk and did have a beer instead of a coffee up on balcony and it was nice - not orgasmic, but nice. Perhaps the "unexpected" and/or "special" moment thing coming into play a bit.

Going to sit here and read a bit and then look at hostels for Liberia.

1500 There was only one cheap hostel in Liberia on booking.com; hostelworld had nothing, and if I put my dates a week ahead hostelworld had one (not same one as booking.com). *Maybe* everything is just mega booked up but I am suspecting Liberia isn't big on budget accommodation; it's possible there's loads but it's not on these sites, but probably not. I dithered about maybe just booking for two nights but figured sod it, go for three. There's a curfew at 11pm but that's fine, it feels a little bit "someone's house" but for three days it will be OK and I was reluctant to splurge (not insane amounts) on a more hotel-y environment.

I have free cancellation until midnight tonight but unlikely to use it. This is at about 25k inc taxes for three nights. I suspect a lot of people there will be freshly arrived via Liberia airport but I may get to meet people, you never know. Three nights will be enough to see a little bit of Liberia and if I really like it it will almost certainly be natural to pass back through it after "doing" the NW coast so I could easily stay a few more nights at that point. I just double checked the dates on booking.com (I am aware I maybe just use them without hunting round, but I do eg check hostelworld when it feels appropriate, and it's undeniably convenient to look down list of bookings and see the check out/in dates pair up reassuringly) and they look OK so the main reason I'd want to cancel is gone.

1626 Shower, laundry etc done. Sitting outside room, pissing it down. Was and probably am going up to balcony in a bit (seems smart to go a little earlier as sunset is OK but not amazing given the angle - you can't see the sun etc - and there might be wildlife etc before). Had been thinking about a beer but if it continues rainy I think coffee will hit the spot.

Slightly edgy (in a not exactly bad way) about "what's to come" . What will it be like, will there be stuff to do, will I feel I'm making the most of being here or that everything is out of reach (transport issues, cost issues, whatever), will I feel I'm slacking off excessively, etc.

Incidentally I am about 3-4 days shy of the four week point, so I need not to write time off before I've had it by saying "four weeks" to myself now when it isn't. (I do this a bit with my age too...) I am probably a whisker under the 1/3 point right now, based on some rough mental arithmetic and a recollection of the trip being 77 days.

I think it's very roughly 9-10 days until new moon, so although I'm not *that* fussed I may well be around the Pacific coast at about the right time for turtle watching if that's something which is offered and not insanely expensive.

1648 Rain slowing, there's a faint grim feeling but I think I'll go up to balcony and get some coffee. Might have an early-ish night too.

1657 Big bird hadn't seen before up here, two or three German families all taking photos when I got up here. :-)

Started raining again.

1826 Looked at GM and I think the lights across lake are probably Tronadora and surroundings.

Feels vaguely later than it is. On second coffee. Cool but not unpleasant out here with fleece on and done up.

Feel vaguely content but also vaguely lonely and a bit melancholic. Odd. Nothing tremendously intense either water.

1900 Getting third coffee. Felt a bit awkward and staff and friends/customers chatting in the bar. Never mind. Will have this then go back to room for bit of YT, the remaining galletas naranja (which don't taste obviously orangey to me, but are nice in a generic sugary kind of way) and maybe an earlyish night.

Crickets still going it at it like crazy but I've obviously got so used to this already that I only notice it if I stop to think about it; IIRC that first night here going to bed it was really noticeable how much wildlife noise there was.

1930 Think I'm feeling just a touch over-caffeinated.

1947 Finished coffee. Oddly edgy about interrupting the chat inside by going to pay but fuck it. Not exactly enjoying being out here and be good to get back to my room and just relax for an hour or two before an early night.

2130 Bed. Been watching a bit of YT, feel OK, very slightly down maybe - perhaps I'm feeling the need for some company?? Anyway, all more or less OK.