Arenal Volcano

Time for another road-trip with the in-laws. Volcan Arenal (in Spanish) or the Arenal Volcano is probably the most talked about tourist destination in Costa Rica. Since it is so popular, I was expecting it to see busloads of gringos everywhere, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that, yet again, as with all of the other attractions we’ve visited this year, it was not overrun with tourists. (Perhaps one reason many of these places are not as busy as expected is because of the economy, but that’s only a guess.)

It is about a 2.5 hour drive from Atenas to Arenal, and the drive straight north from San Ramon was very picturesque. We drove through a lot of different types of terrain, from dairy cattle/ cheese making country to lush, untouched valleys to some commercial nurseries growing ferns and other plants for export. The typical winding roads of Costa Rica and the varied terrain made for a very enjoyable drive.

Once we arrived in the town of La Fortuna, which is the closest town to Arenal, it reminded me a little bit of the tourist town of Banff back home in Canada. There were quite a few little souvenir shops and restaurants (which were of course more expensive than what we’re used to back in Atenas), and lots of places to book tours/adventures. However, like Banff, you can dismiss the commercialism around you when you look at the scenery right down main street. The volcano is an almost perfect conical shape and looks like it was created on a Hollywood set, rather than by nature. Just a fantastic sight! We got lucky the first day as we got a clear view of the volcano in it’s entirety. The next 2 days we got a more typical view with the top covered in clouds.

We stayed at a great little resort right at the foot of the volcano called Los Lagos, which has thermal hot spring pools, as well as a bunch of cold pools with water slides for the kids, and some incredible grounds. There was an abundance of great jungle trees and plants with plenty of local bird, bug and lizard life to watch for. At various stops along the walking path, there was also little exhibits like butterflies, frogs, crocodiles, ants and turtles. The kids, especially Nathan, really enjoyed this, and made many trips per day to see them. There was one old croc who was blind in one eye, and only had one tooth left in his mouth. Nathan found out from his keeper that he was 70 years old.

Another real highlight was one day we saw a family of howler monkeys passing overhead. One had a baby on her back and they were going hand over hand over the zip-line cable. The group going down the zip-line had to wait till they all crossed over. It was cool to see.

Here’s the view from our front door:

 

A couple of the butterflies on display:

 

 

The grounds:

 

 

 

 

And even when we are no where near either coast, Nathan still manages to get too close to crocodiles.

Poas Volcano & La Paz Waterfall Gardens

So the in-laws are here for a month and we got off to a rocky start, with my car breaking down (again!) just hours before I was to pick them up at the airport. Then, after coming home in a taxi, we had an above normal number of power outages. I can’t speak for them, but I’m sure their first impression of our lives here in Costa Rica was not the greatest.

However, we got the car back and FINALLY got a cell phone (after waiting for 3 months) on day 2, so things got much better.

And day 3 was excellent. We went on a road trip to see the Poas Volcano and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Poas is the nearest volcano to us here in Atenas, only about an hour and a half away by car. It is active, but there hasn’t been a serious eruption since 1954. A year ago, on Jan. 8, 2009 there was a 6.1 magnitude earthquake and landslide 8 kilometres from the volcano crater which resulted in the deaths of at least 40 people and seriously affected some local communities.

After seeing the volcano yesterday, I realized that I don’t remember ever seeing one before and I was really impressed. You can walk right up to the rim and look down into the crater and see the gasses escaping near the shores of the little lake at the bottom. (The average temperature of the water is around 40 degrees Celsius and it has a ph level of almost zero.) You can also see where previous eruptions have thrown huge boulders great distances and it really makes you wonder about the incredible forces at work here.

There is also a fabulous path system up to a second extinct crater with a rain-water filled lake. The path has been cut through intense jungle with old, mossy, gnarled trees. The twisted roots and vines on each side look impenetrable and you wonder how the first people hacked their way up there and what nasty beasties they might have found in there.  Very Cool.

After leaving Poas, we drove to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This is a tourist attraction that I hadn’t heard much about before showing up and was again very, very impressed. The road from Poas to La Paz was washed away by the earthquake & landslides in 2009, and was only very recently reopened. It was quite an eye-opener to see the devastation to the roads and villages even a year later and there is still a lot of work to be done.

Once there however, we all loved it. Cut through some very lush rain/cloud forest and very well taken care of grounds, you can find areas displaying local birds, insects, monkeys, jungle cats, frogs, orchids, hummingbirds and snakes. In the aviary, some of us got to put a Toucan on our arms and feed it live worms right out of our hands. Seeing the colors on those beaks up close was absolutely fantastic.

The monkeys were also a hit and they acted as monkeys do in all zoos, with far too much display of bodily functions and hedonistic behaviour. I had to tell the kids a couple times to “move it along, nothing to see here…”. We went on this journey with our friends the Gonzoles family as well, and Patsy was posing the kids in front of the monkey cage for a photo-op, when one of the spider monkeys reached through the cage and grabbed Nathan’s shirt and wouldn’t let go. It was hilarious and he needed Gabbi to help him escape the evil clutches.

In the frog exhibit, the frogs are not kept behind glass or anything. You just look for them on the plants growing out in the open. One of the tour guides for another group was trying to coax out one of the little poison-dart frogs for a picture while Rachel was walking past. The frog jumped out of it’s hiding place and almost landed on Rachel’s shoulder. Pretty cool close encounter.

Just wandering through the grounds and all of the animal displays would have made for a great day, but they also have some of the most spectacular waterfalls I have ever seen. The jungle trail down to them would have been great on it’s own as well. My favourite view was a look-out right over the top of the “Magia Blanca” waterfall. You look like you are just about to fall over the edge along with the water. It was amazing to watch the water plummet onto the rocks over a 100 feet below from that unique vantage point!

All in all, a fabulous day, however my camera battery died after Poas, so I don’t have any pics of La Paz. I will try to get some from Patsy and update this post with them.

 

 

The main Crater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at how much has been ejected in the past

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second, extinct crater called “Laguna Botos”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path to the second crater.

Well, it is a Jungle out there…

A big part of the appeal of living in Costa Rica was that we get to live in a lush, tropical environment. Our house is outside of the town proper, so we have even more opportunities to commune with nature. For the most part it’s great, with a huge variety of plants and animals that make life very interesting.

In fact, I’m thinking that one day I might dedicate a whole post to the “critters I found in my house or yard”, or something like that.

However, yesterday we were reminded that living in or near a real jungle can have some real consequences. We found out that last year, our next door neighbours lost one of their young kittens to a big Boa Constrictor!!!

It was playing in the coffee plants just on the other side of the fence to both of our properties early one morning (before sunrise) while our neighbours were having coffee on the veranda. They told me that the kitty was only 4-5 months old and they could hear it’s screams but could do nothing to help it. Yikes…

I have been over that fence myself a few times at night, wearing nothing but my flip-flops, following a trail of pesky leaf-cutter ants to their hidey-hole so I could get rid of them at the source. My neighbour thinks that because the kitty was a gringo, it lacked the survival instinct of the Tico cats, and I’m starting to think my instincts are no better.

They got 2 friends to capture the snake and take it away and let it go, so at least it didn’t have to die as well. As my neighbour said, the snake was doing what snakes do and the kitten was doing what kittens do.

Here’s the pics. (They’re small, but you might be able to click to enlarge:)

 

 

Prey

 

 

 

 

 

Predator