Arenal, Costa Rica

 I absolutely loved the nature and wildlife at Arenal, there were wild cows on the walk up to the volcano and if you can tell, you can see the clouds behind the cows. Arenal is actually the volcano lactated in the town and it is absolutely beautiful. It was very cool to think I was so high up and it didn't even seem like it. I always wanted to say that I went to Areal during raining season which was a bad idea because most of the day you cannot see the volcano and since your at such a high elevation, everything feels wet and it not great for swimming or outdoor excursions either. The raining season starts in May and ends around October. The one good side to the raining season is the fact that it is a lot cooler. Since Costa Rica is 9 degrees north of the equator, it gets extremely hot when the sun is out so it is good to take advantage in that sense. Also it tends to rain in the afternoon only, it the mornings its always clear by lunch time the clouds have formed and it starts to rain around 3:30-4:00. This is for the entire country of Costa Rica, since the country is a bit small, it is about the same forecast everywhere.

The name of the hotel I stayed at was called Los Lagos, It had so many pools (too many to count) and even hot springs. Some of the springs were man made which meant there were too huge pools that were heated. One of the pools that were heated had a walk up bar inside the pool
and also seating and tables which was very cool in my opinion. Some of the pools were warmer than others and then some were extremely cold. There were also about 6 water slides and also 2 of the water slides were heated. If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica, I highly recommend Staying in Arenal, there is so many excursions around the area also, horseback riding, Zip lining, canopying, canyoning, rock climbing, sloth watching and so much more. There is also a town near by with many restaurants and gift shops.  At the hotel there is a place to hike up like I mentioned earlier and that is where I saw the cows on the hike, once you get to the top you get a great view of the volcano. This was my second favorite place in Costa Rica and was not a expensive place at all so if you are on a budget i suggest coming during raining season and particularly Arenal.
In case your wondering how to get there from the Airport, it is far which will require a long bus ride. There are many bus schedules which operate everyday and all I did was look up "San Jose to Arenal by public bus" and there will be a few good websites that pop up.  This is the website I used:  https://www.rome2rio.com/s/San-Jose-Airport-SJO/Arenal-Volcano?source=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAjwsdfZBRAkEiwAh2z65hv6_iJP1ChjM2X5HgxmOIlxlP2-LSSrr8pw91EUaGYnBIxhR-MQ3hoC4vcQAvD_BwE