UFO’s and the Black Market

Costa Rica has developed a strong adventure tourism industry, largely centered in the town of La Fortuna, Alajuela about an hour down the mountain from the village of Nuevo Arenal. There are all sorts of activities . . . if you have enough money and enjoy challenges, you can go zip lining, kayaking, canyoning, biking, river rafting, horseback riding, fishing, hiking, walk hanging bridges or go caving.  If you prefer viewing nature there are plenty of opportunities to go bird watching or wildlife viewing.  Or you can be more sedate and soak in one of the many hot springs at the base of Arenal Volcano.  In Fortuna you can buy a tour for anything you might want to do or find your own adventure, closer to home, as we did.

Tour company on every corner!

Adventure!

The Springs Resort

Arenal Volcano

 One of our goals for this trip was to rely on public transportation . . . well, we caved.   We did not realize how remote Nuevo Arenal is.  There are taxis but they are expensive for long distance rides.  There are buses, which are inexpensive, but they don’t actually stop at any of the places we would want to go sightseeing, let alone be able to return in a timely manner.  We were feeling fairly isolated and decided to forego our resolve and look into renting a car.  Every time we looked online the price changed so we made a few calls and booked a week’s rental with Alamo to be picked up/returned in Fortuna.  Off we went on the bus down the mountain! 
  

Have I mentioned that although only a 46km (25mi) ride it takes over an hour to wind down the mountain?  Have I mentioned motion sickness?

Fortuna is a charming town, centered on a lovely park and the contemporary Catholic Church, St. John Bosco, designed by Costa Rican artist Teodorico Quirós. 

St. John Bosc Cathedral

St. John Bosc Cathedral

Park fountain

Park

Because Fortuna is the center of much of the tourist industry it is a busy little town with tour kiosks, cafes, taxis, markets, and souvenir shops. 

Souveniers

Jose and the Inspira Cafe

Wandering around town we noticed more than one local rental car agency and decided to stop in and get some information.  That led us to Trebol Rent A Car and meeting Marco and Irene.

Irene

Trebol

Everything about the office was professional and they were ready to negotiate on price.  What did we want?  Ideally a car we could keep for six more weeks and drop off at Liberia airport.  Done.  We should note that Alamo wouldn’t let us rent for more than 31 days and would not negotiate price.  Marco was a willing negotiator, would throw in a cell phone and GPS, and no airport drop-off fee.  It all sounded pretty good and the car looked nearly new.  Done.  We cancelled Alamo and off we went, back up the mountain and feeling like we were 16 again with keys to the car!  I’m sure our readers are waiting for “we got ripped off” or something to that effect but so far, so good.

Renting this car was a big trade-off; we gave up on using local transport in order to have some flexibility.  It’s important to be willing to change your mind . . . that’s our insight for today.  Obviously it cost some money we hadn’t planned to spend but once we looked into the cost of our long distance shuttle services it’s about even.  With the budget in tact and the freedom to roam we decided to head out for some local exploring around Nuevo Arenal.   

About 8 miles from here, up another mountain, is Lake Cote.  It’s supposed to be a very pretty little lake with a swimming beach (you can’t really swim in Lago Arenal due to rip currents) and it has a reputation as being a landing spot for UFOs.  http://www.ufoevidence.org/Photographs/Photo303.htm 

Yes, we set out to find aliens.  Apparently Costa Rica is known for UFO sightings; some people believe the volcanoes are havens for UFOs.  Bob’s a big believer, not necessarily in the volcano theory, but he definitely believes we are not alone in this world.  I’m willing to go along for the ride but not really a believer.  http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/09/ufo-visits-costa-rica-after-turrialba-volcano-eruption/

The road isn't marked . . . the road is terrible . . . it was one of those driving situations where you think - should I keep going or turn around?  Bob had used “Google maps” before leaving Nuevo Arenal.  The road we were taking had a highway number (143) and appeared to be paved.  We never saw a highway number or pavement.  The road went from gravel to rock to cow path and we kept going up and up because we kept seeing signs for the alien zone, along with signs for photo-ops.

Getting closer

I wish we could have stopped at the top for photos looking back at Lago Arenal because the views were stunning but frankly we didn’t think we’d get going again so we kept going.  At a fork in the road we turned right, toward the alien zone, and suddenly we could see lovely Lake Cote. 

Lake Cote

At one point in time someone had tried to develop the area; there were staked-out lots and it would have been a pretty place for a home.  The villa development never got off the ground, I’m sure because of the very poor access road, and maybe because of alien sightings. 

Believe?

I don’t know.  We didn’t see any but if they do exist they are choosing a very pretty location for their landing site. 

 

Lake Cote

Continuing onward (still no sign that this is really the way) Bob decides to tell me we are nearly out of gas.  We are miles from anywhere with no one around . . . what are you going to do other than hope that the road will start going downhill.  It does and a few more miles we actually see highway number 143 markers and pavement.  We are above Nuevo Arenal and realize we are on the hillside with the pretty houses. 

Hillside houses above Nuevo Arenal

Lago Arenal

Coasting into town the first business is the gas station . . . we are grateful!  Until we see the pumps are all taped off and realize there is no gas in town. 

 

No gas at the pumps!

Bob manages to speak with the attendant asking when their supply will be coming.  De nada.  Just follow “el chico” and we can buy gas.  Confused but out of options we follow “el chico” who is waving us into an alley . . . where his amigo will sell us gas from his own truck’s gas tank. 

$ will get you gas!

Of course the price is double the going rate and the irony of all of it is that while gas in the US is at a very low price we are quite willing to spend $16 for three gallons of gas.  We have no choice if we want to drive back to a real gas station.  It’s the black market and actually quite entrepreneurial of someone . . . maybe the gas station owner?

So our first afternoon of sightseeing we did not see any UFOs or aliens, and we nearly ran out of gas.  We like to fancy ourselves as “not tourists” but actually trying to embrace new experiences and of course meet new people.  The day was a success!

End note - We had to change out our rental car for some reason.  Now we have a little black Toyota Yaris which is getting us out and about.  Also, it’s been a week and there is still no gas in Nuevo Arenal . . . but we do know where we can get some!

Thanks for following along on our journey.  We may still see a UFO or aliens.