Just Google ‘Arenal, Costa Rica.’ Look at the images.
Nope. These aren’t photoshopped. It really looks like that. You don’t know what green, real, leafy, exotic green looks like until you see Arenal. Honestly, paradise is real and it could very well be Arenal.
You’re looking, hastily scrolling through image after image. You’re firing up a new tab, ready to search ‘Holidays to Costa Rica’ and then-
Yep. There it is. The realisation. The bleak, gutting realisation.
It’s a great big volcano. Basically, a giant, fire breathing, lava spewing hill. Most people would be alarmed by the ‘fire’ and ‘lava’ part but that’s not the problem is it? It’s the ‘giant’ and ‘hill’ part. What’s the greatest nemesis of a wheelchair user, apart from a sweeping flight of stairs, of course? It’s a hill.
So now, you’re at the ‘what is the point in going when I won’t be able to do anything?’ stage. Yes, it’s beautiful. Yes, it’s a world wonder filled with fauna and flora you’d only ever see on TV. But what’s the point, when you’ll just be stuck in the wheelchair at the bottom of the beautiful volcano, looking up at it as it looms over you, a great rock covered with vegetation, taunting you and bringing to light everything you simply aren’t able to do?
That’s how I felt anyway. The initial wave of excitement (and fear – spiders!) was replacing with an overwhelming sense of dread and self loathing. I knew that it would be a once in a lifetime trip, a chance to get my David Attenborough on, a mega holiday which would cost thousands of pounds. What a waste. I would just end up holding my husband back, denying him the holiday of his dreams. Really, whose heard of an adventuring wheelchair user?
We booked it anyway. After a few days of listening to my husband as he assured me that it would be fine, we’d have a great time, we are so used to adapting – we took the plunge and booked. To be honest, this great adventure was the first holiday we booked where we did minimal research into how accessible it is etc. I think this was done on purpose on both sides – we had enough trepidation over how brave we really were (again, spiders, namely the Brazilian Walking Spider) that we had an unspoken agreement not to add anymore worry.
Looking back, the decision to ignore the great big wheelchair in the room wasn’t particularly clever but thankfully, it worked out.
The thing is, you CAN go to Arenal. You can get lost in the mist that covers the peak from late afternoon, you can sit on a sunlounger, drink in hand, and gaze up at the mountain which sits like a great protector of the little town and not feel as if you are missing out, or you’re getting a second-best experience.
The beauty of Arenal sweeps you up before you can even think about anything like complications or compromises. There seem to be no compromises left in the world as you turn a corner in the road and it emerges through forest, thrusting upwards into a brilliant blue sky. Everything is so calm, so still as your eyes are roaming the scene, hungry to take in everything. It isn’t just the volcano. It’s the high trees leading up to it, the dazzling array of shining blue, red, yellow and orange flowers which sit in great colourful masses so bright, it’s almost blinding.
When you step off of the bus, coach or out of the car, there’s a soft breeze that envelopes you, cradles you and holds you in a world you cannot believe is real. It’s overwhelming. I remember the shiver I felt as my body tuned into the surroundings. It’s so easy to get lost in that hazy, magical world which is more exotic, more freeing and more dreamlike than any wonderland conjured by any writer.
In that place where everything seems still, untouched by time, you can and WILL forget the wheelchair which you’ve thrown into the boot. Any restrictions or tours or activities that you might not be able do just don’t matter when you find yourself relaxing at the foot of Arenal Volcano.
There are so many things you can still do in you’re a wheelchair user (and I will go into more depth about this and the hotel we stayed at in separate posts) but even if they are limited, it is not a waste of time or money to just GO to Arenal. The experience, the world you found yourself getting further and further lost in is worth everything.
I honestly didn’t think about what I have wrong with me when I arrived. I didn’t care that I was being wheeled to my room. I didn’t care that I wouldn’t be able to climb it even if I wanted to. Arenal Volcano is a beauty, it’s a real delight, and there is no reason why wheelchair users shouldn’t experience it. There just isn’t.
We deserve to experience the beauty of it. We deserve to feel the awe-inspiring wonder of nature. It doesn’t matter that we have to sit whilst we take it in. Arenal is definitely worth it. It’s more than worth it.
The Wheel Chair Traveller 