After I had given up on the day when one of the girls who was staying in my dorm came in and said that she was just about to go on a night trip to the viewing point of Arenal Volcano, which seemed like something a little more interesting than just dossing in the hostel, so I asked her if she minded me tagging along, which she didn´t.
We ended up sharing a raggedy mini van along with four other guests from the hostel and although the rain had stopped for the moment, I didn´t trust it to hold off for long, so had grabbed my rainproof poncho and a pair of track suit bottoms, which was about the only thing left that I had with me that wasn´t soaked already.
The minibus ride took about fifteen to twenty minutes and along the way we were chatting and hoping that the clouds would be lesser up the volcano as down at ground level it was thicker than pea soup.
Halfway up the road the rain started up again, and it was pouring by the time we reached the vantage point.
Sadly when we got to the top the cloud was no less, and we could barely see the iluminated river 10 feet away let alone the tip of the volcano some several hundred meters away. It was a dissapointment for all, but especially for the girl I was chatting to from our dorm as she had come all this way just for this and was due to leave at 5am the following morning out again.
For laughs I got out my camera and took a few pictures of us all standing in the rain and then they started posing, which was fun for about three minutes, then we all just sighed and climbed back in the minibus.
I personally think that the hostel should have offered us half the money back, like what happened in Ecuador, as they had charged 10 dollars per person, and being locals they could have told us that there was no chance in hell of seing any lava, but they did and they just kept it all, so for me it ruled out any trips with them tomorrow.
When we got back to the hostel I confirmed that I was flying out to Honduras a day earlier than planned, skipping Nicaragua and the rain that was there, and then contacted my friend in San Pedro Sula to say that I was arriving a day early, but I have no idea if she will check her emails in time and i don´t have her phone number to call her.
The end of a dismal day was when I ordered a taco from the hostel restaurant and what came out was a thin tobacco shaped thing with fries that was very dry and stodgy tasting, nowhere near the best food I have had in days and that is saying something.
Overall I am quite dissappointed in the hostel, as although it looks good from the gate entrance, once you get inside and try things out it starts to go downhill.
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