Costa Rica Ye Haw .....

Back on the Road Again...this is where Central America begins………Heading to Costa Rica was to be a family and friend adventure, but things changed and because of our airline ticket type, we had to continue on. So, since we were on our own and we had been to Costa Rica 4 years prior, we changed our plans some. We traveled north from San Jose to Fortuna, home of the most active volcano in Costa Rica, named Arenal.

There are 122 volcanic mountains in the country of Costa Rica which have been labeled , “The Pacific Rim of Fire”. and this is where we will call home for a couple of days. We found lodging in a bungalow with a front porch view of the entire volcanic mountain. It was a pretty majestic view!

To our surprise, we came at the time of the holy holiday, which is the 3 days prior to our observation of Easter . No one in the entire country is to sell or serve alcoholic beverages other than wine. and if you are found out to have broken this law, you are served a stiff fine and possible jail time. What we did find was places that took the chance or had connections, to where they were able to sell drinks….only at a 800% mark up.

So our first day was to take in the near by hot springs called “Baldi Hot Springs”.
This place was the size of a large amusement center. Baldi has several pools with different temperatures to play and soak in. Where the springs begin, the pool is a scorching 152 degrees (67 C) and runs down pool after pool to the coolest one at 89 degrees (32 C). The pools were as large as a regular swimming pool with swim up bars and water slides.

The place was packed due to the holiday. After enjoying the springs, it was time for some eats. After checking out their menu, we decide that this was the place mainly because they had an amazing salad bar, and we were really craving raw veggies something fierce.

Our next day started by hiring a driver to take us up to Arenal Lake to do some kayaking. The lake is at the base of the volcano, and was a majestic scene. It had been a while since we were in fresh water so we took advantage of the entire outing. Pretty much, all of Costa Rica, except San Jose, is a rain forest/ jungle, so we were checking out the wildlife on top of the water, rather than under this time. The one thing that kept popping up during our time on the lake, is this huge smoking, yes smoking volcano right in front of us. WOW is all I can say!

So later that night, we hired a taxi to take us up close to the volcano. We joined a small group of tourists that had also signed up for the motorized trek.
At one point, we started seeing the molten lava streams, and thought, OK this is good… but, as we started passing the many sight see’rs we found that we were heading up even further. Our driver passed every one and took us up even further. He told us to wait and watch, because he knew of the best viewing area. OK, let’s see what he has … He finally pulled over and we all get out of the van. It was pitch black with clouds and steam covering the volcano.

The light breeze pushed the steam and smoke away from the top, so we were able to catch some cool scenes of red lava running down the mountainside. We were too far away to take pictures, so we said, "Hey we'll just get postcards for the pictures".We were giving our ohhh’s and ah’s with each little blast, but then a change happened.

The mountain decided to give us a real treat. A pretty good size explosion took place and lit up the entire mountain top, like strawberry syrup being poured over a chocolate sundae, burning everything in its path. It was really something incredible to see. You had to think….what are we crazy?…standing next to an active volcano and the truth is, we probably were!!! After the show, we went back to our bungalow ,to pack up and to get back On the Road Again...

Our next blog will be coming up pretty quick....so please stay tuned....