Anthony and Wigs,
Always a pleasure, gentlemen. Yeah the place kicks ass. It is about a three or three and a half hour drive north of the San Juan airport. The drive itself is a gas, as it is a winding road through a third world country and really is alot of fun. There are no road signs so you have to drive into town and turn right basically. All roads lead to one. Once you reach the rain forest you will see Mount Arenal in the distance. There are two resorts so to speak, yet only the one, Tabacun, is worht it. The resort is secluded in the path of a freshwater spring that originates from the volcano and is super heated. As the water drains through the mountain the resort has periodically damned the stream into pools and infused cool water in some and not in others. The resort has 36 pools I think of different water temps and current as there are waterfalls into some of them. This is all done in a completely natural setting using the stream itself to determinte the layout of the resort. Has steam pools, numerous spas and masseuses on staff, which are very reasonable and absolutely the best massage I have ever had. Has a large play pool with a bar and a couple of restaraunts in which the food is good and plentiful, very reasonable. Approximately 8 miles into town, pop. 356 or so, are numerous places to go rafting, or horseback riding to the huge waterfall that you have to walk down these stairs cut into the mountain side to get to the bottom of this fall, but it is well worth it, as there is a eddy down there that is refreshing and has a lot of tourist skinny dipping!! Can also take a canopy tour of the rain forest where you basically repel your way through the treetops, very cool. Can't say enough about it......veeeerrryyy relaxing. And I have been to a lot of places working for the airline, trust me. But this place is really cool.