The last day before we catch a plane in San Jose tomorrow afternoon. The sun comes up earlier here it seems as it’s shining bright at 5:30am. The crashing of the waves on the beach and room drenched in sunlight, as their is no air conditioning only screens with drapes, gets us up early as we need to be at the park early. They only let in a limited number of visitors each day and its a 15 minute walk to get there. Oh, and also the ruckus in the trees next to the room as monkeys play and search for food. Yes that’s right only 15 to 20 feet from the deck. That was another reason to get out of bed.

The walk took us pass a number of small hotels, resturants and street vendors setting up their tables by the side of the road that fronts the beach. Entering the park we pass by a family of monkeys in the trees. Once inside we immediately see a sloth hanging out in a tree take a few pictures and keep moving. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the main portion where you have options.

If you recall the picture from the deck of the hotel room that is where we are. The portion that goes out into the bay is where we are heading next, taking a trail that circles it.

We see oversized guinne pigs, iguanas, and hear howler monkeys from the tree tops above. A narrow trail takes you around and we move up and down a number of times. Alan finds red crabs in a number of areas and after paying attention a little more we see a number of them too. After returning to where we started it was only 9:30 or so. We decided to hang out on the beach for a while, being mindful of visitors (monkeys) that might wander off with things, and picked the side that faces our hotel. The beach on the other side we could see already had a number of people over there.

The surf was a little ruffer but we had the entire beach to ourselves. As the girls went in first they got a taste of the waves, a few big ones put the down a time or two. Alan and I were in next once they returned and even though the surf could be ruff, and the undertow was a little heavy, putting yourself out a little was got you out of that. Water was warm and we hung out there for a while. Kay came back out and on the way in she moved a little to slow and caught a big wave in the wrong place. Salt water up the noze takes a while sometimes to clear out. But all is well and we started our trek back to the hotel, and it was only 10:45am.

Our pace was slower going back and we stopped by a few street vendors along the way. Once back we headed to the pool for a dip and some lunch. After about an hour Alan and I had enough of the sun and headed back to the room. The decks provided a bit more shade. The girls stayed down for a while but were back up for happy hour by 5:00. After a few drinks it was across the street to La Cantina BBQ for dinner. A couple unique things about this place is they have a railroad car as an internet cafe and all the food is cooked over and open wood fired grill. It was excellent.

That’s it we are heading back in the morning. Catch a shuttle at 8:30am and our flight leaves at 2:30pm. We’ll change planes, clear customs too in Charlotte and be home by midnight. We could stay longer but it’s time to go.

Our first day in Quepos and Kay, Amy, and Alan are off to do a canopy tour… a.k.a zip lines above the rain forest. Not really my cup of tea, the hanging bridges was enough thrill thank you. So for me it was catch up on things as the hotel has wireless internet for $4.00 an hour. It’s slow, you can only by an hour at a time but it’s better than nothing. It was nice to sit on the deck look out to the ocean and get a few things done. They were back at around 1:00pm, after leaving at 7:00am, and had an excellent time.

The gig was everyone traverses from tree to tree, 8 to 10 in a group, then gather on a tree stand clipped in as their were no railings. One by one fly to the next stand, clip in and keep going. The zip lines were interupted by one “tarzan swing” and a couple rapels. The vote was unanimous it was one of the best excersions of the trip. Glad they all had fun and I passed. Maybe one day I’ll get more comfortable with heights.

The afternoon was a lazy one, hanging out by the pool for a bit and girls catching a nap. As dinner time rolled around we walked up the road, and I mean up, a block or so to a El Avion owned by the hotel. It is set in a C123 cargo plane where the story behind it is it was used by the Regan administration to support the rebels in Nicaragua. Food was good but portions were big. Tomorrow, last day in Costa Rica before heading home, we’ll trek to the Manuel Antonio park. Known for it’s diverse animals and plants it has three beaches and a number of nature trails.

For any of the Calhoun clan that might want to see a few pics of them here are a handful for ya’ll. I’m sure Amy will send some pics your way once we’re all back.

Today is a travel day as we’re up at 7:30am to check out, grad a quick breakfast and be on the road by 8:30. It’s a 5 to 6 hour drive from La Fortuna to Quepos were we’ll be staying at the Hotel Costa Verde fro the rest of our trip. Along the way we stopped on a bridge to see some crocodiles sunning in the river and made it to the hotel by 3:00pm. Opening the door to the room we were greated with an ocean view and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. With the rooms equipped with a stove and refrigerator I’m not sure we’ll be leaving the hotel accept for a trip to the store for supplies. The view says it all.

No adventuring this afternoon. Amy and Alan will be wandering off to the store for supplies, but Kay and I are heading down to the pool and we’ll all spend the evening in.

p.s. the hotel has wireless internet but no TV in the room. Guess we’ll have to make do.

Another dry morning but clouds still covered most of Arenal. Today’s activies have not been planned but after a quick breakfast it was decided we go to the Arenal Waterfall for this mornings excersion. It’s about a 20 minute taxi ride from the resort and $7.00 a person to enter. We hadn’t looked to much into what we’d expect, other than a sizeable waterfall. It’s about a 20-25 minute hike down to the falls fairly steep and narrow. On the way down there’s a couple observations platforms to view the falls from waterfall from and when at the bottom the view up is very impressive. The waterfall plunges into a large pool which runs down a river lined with large bolders. Well worth the trip. The hike back up is a little more stressful but a good workout none the less.

We headed back to the resort for a break before another trek to the volcano at 3:30pm. The plan was to do a little hiking, no guide, and see what their was. We had to hussel a little as we didn’t realize the gates to the park closed at 4:00 to give everyone time to get out by 5:30pm. We were able to make it in time which left us plenty of time for the 2 kilometers to the lava flow from 1992. As we walked through a narrow trail surrounded by tall vegitation we kept hearing “whoosh”, “whoosh” similar to the heavy breathing of a large animal. It was almost rythmic and it took a moment to realize it was the volcano. It’s alive !!!!!

We reached the old lava flow after about 20 minutes and walked up a crude set of steps part manufatured part lava rock. From there we followed a trail of yellow arrows painted on rocks and stakes, painted in yellow as well, across lava rocks for a couple hundred yards. We reached a good vantage point where we could see the lake behind us and Arenal in front. We spent about 15 minutes there listening in silence only broken by the singing of birds, “whoosh” from the volcano, and the crackling of bolders tumbling down. Their were a few times where we could see bolders flying down the side after being broke loose by what seemed to be its breathing. Their were no eruptions like we saw the two days prior but ti was a sight to see. No one else was around, just us four, and was a excellent ending to our 4 days here in La Fortuna. Tomorrow morning, 8:30am, we’ll leave for our 6 hour trip to the coast where we’ll spend the rest of week.