After an invigorating visit to the La Fortuna Waterfall we got back on the road and drove towards Lake Arenal, which sits at the base of the Arenal Volcano in the northern highlands of Costa Rica. It is the country’s largest landlocked body of water, with a surface that covers nearly 33 square miles and a depth that reaches about 200 feet.
In 1979, Lake Arenal was enlarged to three times its original size with the construction of a hydroelectric dam, raising the level of the existing lake by 141 feet. The hydroelectric plant has an installed capacity of 157 MW and includes a 230 feet-high dam located 1788 feet above sea level. Hydropower is the main source of energy in Costa Rica, followed by geothermal and wind power. Together these three renewable energy sources make up 99.2% of the nation’s total energy production.