Nuevo Arenal: Forgotten Floods & Fabulous Food…

Our stay in Tronadora was one of our shortest stops lasting only 3 days and from there we were off on another brief stop on the other side of Lake Arenal in the town of Nuevo Arenal. It was about a 40 minute ride in a taxi to get from one side to the other and interesting to note how the climate changed. This is nearly always the case in Costa Rica, that tiny distances lead to completely different weather. Where it had been hot and sunny in Tronadora we arrived in Nuevo Arenal to a fairly heavy bout of rain and could still see the sun shining on the opposite side of the lake! It took a little while to find the house as the location that we had on AirBnB turned out to be nowhere near where we were staying but we met the owner of the house and unloaded our stuff.

This was probably the first time that we were staying in a typical Tico house. By this I mean that it was a house which had obviously been used by a family rather than an apartment that had been converted for AirBnB purposes. The furniture and fittings were a little old-fashioned but everything had been well-maintained and looked after which I actually really appreciate over a house which has been refitted. There’s something very appealing about looking after what we have rather than just throwing it out in favour of ‘modernising’ our interiors. The house was really big considering it was to sleep just the 4 of us – the girls had fun running around and inspecting each of the bedrooms and then counting up exactly how many people could potentially sleep there – 15 in total!!

Out the back we had a good sized garden at the top of the slopes with a stunning view down towards and across Lake Arenal. Between us and the lake the slope was covered in trees and as a result we had endless bird activity to watch – mostly the impressive call and dance of the Oropendola who at the same time as they produce a condensed flurry of notes do a kind of trapeze flip on the branch displaying their yellow tail! At the bottom of the garden we had an open building which over the few days we were there would be used as our ‘outdoor classroom’ as well as being a great observatory for gazing out. This was one of those stops where we ended up with multiple identical pictures of the scene out of the back of the house because every time we would look out it was stunning and you felt compelled to capture it.

On that first afternoon we made a mistake but one that was useful in the long run. We had arrived with some food supplies but we needed to stock up on a few bits and pieces. Outside it was pretty miserable and the rain was still coming down quite heavily accompanied by a blustery wind. We decided to do a trip to the shops which were not very far away. The girls were both reluctant to come complaining that we’d just arrived but we went anyway. Once there it was all around an unhappy trip. We ended up heading home with stuff that we hadn’t really intended to get but ended up buying to placate our unhappy children. We pushed our way back home against the rain. Once back we realised that the kids had been right. It’s easy to overlook as an adult that they needed time to settle into yet another new home; perhaps more so given how brief the previous stay had been. When we first arrived they were excited to explore the new house and we had rushed them out. However, it was ultimately instructive for us as parents to recognise that they need this time when we first arrive somewhere to settle in, not do very much and begin to feel comfortable. It wasn’t going to be the last time that we made this error but at least now we were able to recognise it and to better avoid making it in future.

That evening we made more bread now that we had finally found a good method. Once again we had an oven but we didn’t have a decent tray or sheet to use so I had to use a pan. However, this time the handles on the pan were not heatproof. Thankfully, I was able to use the screwdriver on my swiss army knife to remove the handles giving us a suitable pan to use! Fresh bread was staying on the menu.

The following morning I was up early and set off for a walk. I’d spotted on the map that there was a park down near the lake and wanted to investigate. It was a good early morning walk and it was very peaceful down at the lakeside. As I walked back home I was wondering what kind of place Nuevo Arenal was. There was no obvious industry or employment there: it wasn’t a big tourist town, didn’t seem to be agriculturally orientated so I was left wondering what people did there? It had a bit of a strange feel about it too. Once I arrived back at the house I happened to search for some information about the hydroelectric system at Lake Arenal. We’d previously been told that the lake was constructed to supply electricity and I was curious exactly where the turbines were located. However, what I came across was a far more interesting article which explained the history of the entire project. What this revealed was that we had quite unintentionally ended up visiting 2 significant locations on either side of the lake. When the area was flooded to create Lake Arenal there were two towns which had to be relocated: Tronadora and Arenal. Reading about the whole project and the effect that it had on the residents of these towns was very sad and went a long way towards explaining that strange atmosphere that I’d felt. They were places that hadn’t existed and had then been created to relocate the residents. Sometimes it’s possible to pick up on that feeling, that lack of identity that a place can end up with. Often I’ve found a similar feeling in places that grew up quite naturally for a reason but have since lost their identity. For example, places that were once busy coastal resorts before people started to holiday overseas, or former mining towns, once busy and now disused ports. Often these kinds of places end up left with a collection of residents who are there because they were born in that place but the industry which might have brought their parents or grandparents to the area has long since gone. It leaves a cultural scar of people who are in a place without a specific reason other than there was previously a resource in the area; a resource which has now gone.

Once everyone was up we went for a very short trip out to a shop just at the end of our road. We had really hit the jackpot on this particular occasion as this small shop Farmacia Organica was exactly what we had been craving. On the morning that we visited they had just received their delivery of fresh produce from local organic farms which was being packed up in a room just to the rear of the shop. For Rachael and I we were a little dizzy from the selection of good food. We greedily filled our basket with sauerkraut, kombucha, organic vegetables, handmade chocolates, coconut milk ice-cream and more! We got back home feeling really good. That good feeling was caused by a number of things too – firstly it’s really nice to know that you have some healthy food to eat, for both us and for our children. Secondly, it’s also a good feeling to know that your money is going to support businesses who are making that kind of positive contribution to both the health of the people who are eating the produce as well as to the health of the land that they are farming. Additionally, by improving the health of the land they are further improving the health of people by reducing pesticides, herbicides, etc. which will otherwise end up in the water and air that we all share. It’s a virtuous circle. Moreover, it feels good to support the shop that is selling their produce. This is all in contrast to those times when we don’t have the option and have to go to the supermarket knowing that the money goes to supporting the opposite of that virtuous circle. Basket full of delicious, nutritious produce we went home to enjoy.

Whilst we were very happy to have found our little organic supply store there was one more general observation that we made about the ethical food scene. Thinking back to our early days in Costa Rica I’d observed how the supermarket is always the most obvious and easiest place to find. They have big colourful billboards, easily identifiable logos and plenty of clear sign-posting. If the supermarkets were fruits and I were a bird then they would be deep red berries, perfectly designed to catch my eye. By contrast the smaller food scene of small scale organic producers tends towards much more subtle and understated design. Far more likely to find delicate logos and pastel colours. On the one hand that fits with the scene, being less crass and obnoxious than the supermarkets. However, I think that occupying this kind of visual territory is more likely to the detriment of the sustainable food producers. Doubtless those supermarkets and other big businesses (think coca-cola for example) have done all of their research to find that those bright bold colours catch people’s attention more readily. As a result the design territory and advertising aesthetic left for the other side to use to distinguish themselves actually results in them being less visible. Perhaps we need to change this? Maybe we need to arrive in a place and see big bold signs which point us to the healthier food choices.

The rest of our short stay in Nuevo Arenal was really fun. We made good use of the little building in the garden as our ‘outdoor classroom’ and particularly enjoyed our art classes there where the girls made fantastic drawings of the beautiful scene in front of us. We had a good couple of days enjoying some great food and really amazing scenery. The emotional backdrop to this was our stay in Tronadora which had been fraught with trying to make plans and preparations for journeying to Colombia and it felt especially good to have that behind us and everything in place and then getting to relax.

On our final day we all went for a walk down to the lake where we went a little further along than I had gone alone and found some very beautiful spots. It’s strange that Nuevo Arenal hasn’t become more of a tourist destination than it currently is but perhaps that is all entangled with that lack of identity. Other places such as Monteverde have created a definite portfolio of tourist attractions which draw people in. The busiest attraction in Nuevo Arenal seems to be a German Bakery which for some reason has coaches of tourists stop by for lunch. However, that is all they ever seem to be doing; passing through from one place to the next.

We enjoyed our short stay in Nuevo Arenal and for me it would be an interesting place to try and get to know a bit better. It has tonnes of natural beauty and perhaps part of the charm is that it hasn’t yet become a tourist hotspot.