Volcano Arenal
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2005
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Trip End
Sep 09, 2005
La Fortuna,
Costa Rica
Thursday, July 7, 2005
After wasting a bunch of time trying to find a good hotel and some random luck (we were asking about rooms and met a couple people who had an extra one reserved) we wound up at Tabacon Hot Springs, a super nice and cozy hotel with an amazing hot springs river that has been turned into a big spa/pool area. The first day, we went on a late afternoon hike around the national park at the base of Arenal.
01 yes, that´s our plane, and our pilot
The volcano is active pretty much every day so you can't get that close, but the views are spectacular and the hike goes through new growth rain forest (in an area that was destroyed in the last big erruption and is now growing back), a lava field full of big bolders of lava rock, and then some old rainforest. I remarked when we first arrived in La Fortuna, the town closest to Arenal, that volcanos in Central America were getting a bit like cathedrals in Europe. If you´ve travelled around Europe, you may have had this experience: the cathedrals are all amazing, but after a while, they all just start to look the same and its hard to get excited about them. Well, as soon as we got near Arenal, I had to take back that statement -- I´m still excited about volcanos in Central America, and Arenal is exceptionally interesting. (And, by the way, as I write this, I´m back in Antigua, Guatemala, where I´ve been admiring views of three volcanos with much affection the last few days.) From the lava field, we listened and watched for birds and had a great view over the lake. We ended our hike right about the time it was getting really dark out, and sat by a river to wait and see if we could see some lava and sure enough, not much time went by before we started to see bright red rocks tumble down the volcano, leaving firey trails along the way. Incredible. The next day, we toured Eco-Center Danaus, a reserve created basically just by letting the rainforest regrow in an old cattle pasture
02 in our plane on the way to Arenal
. Really interesting to get a close look at the different plants and creatures, including sloths, butterflies and frogs. Next, we went to the La Fortuna waterfall, a steep hike down to the picture-perfect waterfall into a blue pool of water. The swimming was a bit chilly -- it reminded me of the cold showers on Isla Ometepe, but the waterfall was simply gorgeous. Only complaint: the bus full of loud teenagers there at the same time were making the waterfall seem a bit like an annoying amusement park. That night, we found a restaurant for dinner with a perfect sunset view of the volcano and later spoiled ourselves with massages at the hot springs. Not a bad way to end our stay in Costa Rica. We also had really great luck with the weather while at Arenal. I believe Arenal is Costa Rica´s top attraction, but you can only actually see the volcano about 20% of the year. Our guide and others remarked how rare it was to have so much sun this time of year, and we had 3 perfect days.
The next day, we made our way to San Jose, a really beautiful drive, and Will returned to San Francisco and me back to Guatemala for a week. I´m in Antigua again now, back at spanish school and staying with the family I lived with in April and May. In many ways, it feels like I´m "home" -- including the woman at the laudromat remembering my name and the waitress at my favorite restaurant asking where I´d been. But, Antigua has a much different feel now -- completely overrun with tourists in the summer months, it seems to be missing a little bit of its character. I´m sure its still here, just a little more elusive.
I´m heading to Lake Atitlan for a quick trip and then to Cancun on the 16th, where I´ll meet my sister and friend/roommate from San Francisco.
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