Overall we spent 8 days in Nuevo Arenal exploring the town, the surrounding countryside and many small restaurants they call 'sodas' here.  We played a little pickleball with some of the expat locals and had a great time working up a sweat with no aches or pains after.  One of the nicer 'sodas' was actually a real restaurant about 2 miles from our place.  We headed out on foot about an hour before sunset to make sure we arrived in time for our views of the sun setting from their outdoor eating area were abundant.

Above is one of the nice views we had of Lake Arenal during our 2 mile pre-dinner calorie burning walk. This lot happened to be 'se vende' or for sale as were many more like it.  They were all measured in square meters or hectares.  There are about 1575 square meters in an acre and about 2.5 acres in a hectare.  Most lots for sale with views like this were in the 10 acre range.  No prices were listed  but it seemed to be prime real estate.


Above is an example of how they do their mowing on the side of the road here in Costa Rica!  Every now and again we found goats tied up to trees or fence posts.  As Michael has a herd of over 1000 goats for his fire abatement business back in CA he found this fascinating.  He said they are simply there so the owner can use the vegetation as free food for his animals.

This little cute cat was sitting on top of its owners car.  Waiting for a ride or simply people watching?

Michael and Laurie rounding the bend in pursuit of our new buddy Una Ojo.

On our walk we adopted this dog, or should I say she adopted us.  She found us after meeting her earlier outside of Michael's place gnawing on the head of a recently butchered pig.  Not sure where she got it.  We named her 'Una Ojo' or One Eye. Upon arrival and picture taking duty the two dogs that belonged to the restaurant owner chased her away.  No worries as she re-adopted us on our walk home.

Above is a video of Una Ojo gnawing her prize pig head.

Above is a pic of the outdoor seating area at our one fancy restaurant of the week.


Michael and I enjoying our drinks waiting for 'the sunset moment'


Laurie selecting the eggplant parmesan from the menu while relaxing.  Both Michael and I ordered the pasta bolognese.  All dishes were absolutely fabulous.


Ahhhhh...The good life with the sun setting over Lake Arenal. Pura Vida they say in Costa Rica. The statement basically means 'live life in the moment and enjoy'.

Our view before dinner arrived.  We noted that off to the right was a serious bank of clouds that kept 'calving' off smaller clouds that would drift towards the sunset and then go 'poof' in an instant.  Never seen anything like that before.

Above is a picture of the never ending calving of the cloud coming over the mountain range.



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