15/01/15 Canas to Mystica, Lake Arenal

The day was split into three stages, after breakfast stage one was a river rafting trip. It was about 5 minutes by bus to the start of the river trip, it was delightful with lots of bird varieties to see, Blue Heron, Osprey, Tiger Heron, Green Heron, Sand Piper, Fly Catchers, Ibis, Vulture to name a few, then Howler and white face monkeys, iguanas and Jesus Christ lizards (they walk on water), Crocodiles, Quadamundi, long nose bats along with many others. Well worth the trip although it did go on a bit too long and was very hot.
Once out of the river we drove a little way for an early lunch, after which we piled back into the bus and drove 26 miles to an elevation of 600 meters for an excellent downhill run back the way we had driven up. It was delightful and ended at the Pan Am Highway with fresh pineapple, water melon and  coconut. After the rest we were back in the bus and drove to Tiliran where we unloaded and rode around Lake Arenal to a hotel called Mystica. The rain came in hard but we still we still had good views of the lake. It was another 10 miles and we rode right to the door of the hotel. The hotel itself was fabulous, nice rooms overlooking the lake and beautiful gardens.
There was dissension in the group this afternoon about a $24.00 meal the company had booked in our behalf, we had no choice in the decision. It was a pizza meal that cost $11.00, but there was a salad starter and dessert and fruit juice that nobody wanted because we were all drinking alcoholic beverages. Roberto had to come and explain the situation - basically he had no control over what his boss and the hotel had agreed on, so it was a case of 'suck it up buttercup'. It was nice pizza.

Away we go

A boat selfie