We got back to our hostel and went to happy hour (at our hostel). The beers were priced well. The only beer you can find in Costa Rica is Imperial. We drank a few and played cards. We ran into the girls we rode in the van from the airport with and went to dinner with them. Dinner was great. We had fruit smoothies and large plates of meat, rice and beans. We had an early night so that we could have a busy day on Saturday.
For our Saturday hike, we decided to do it sans guide. We arranged for a cab to pick us up. After some negotiating (the front desk guy was obviously in cahoots with the cabbie), we had made arrangements to get taken to Volcan Arenal Park and then picked up again when the park closed. We were at the observation deck at just the right time. We had a decent view of the volcano before we began our hike.
The next morning, we had breakfast and coffee at the hostel and were picked up by a shuttle service to take us to the next town: Manuel Antonio.