With mountains and volcanoes meaning a lack of decent roads, transport options from Monteverde to the Arenal region are limited, with the road option being long and laborious. Most travellers therefore take the route known locally as “jeep boat jeep”, although these days due to its popularity the “jeep” bits are by minibus. A 90-minute ride along unmade roads which are really nothing more than farm tracks brings us to a muddy slope at the edge of Lake Arenal, where large white egrets hunt for fish and swallows swoop overhead. There is a regular stream of minibuses depositing travellers here, bringing enough people to fill several of the little boats,…