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Published: December 23rd 2009
Yesterday's trip to the volcano was great. We left the hostel at 3:30 and drove 20 minutes to a hiking point. Our tour guide was a local who lived close to the town where the 1968 eruption of the volcano shoked everyone because it had been dormant for 500 years and they all thought it was a mountain. He had TONS of pictures to show how much the volcano and town of La Fortuna has changed in the last 40 years. He also told us stories of illegally hiking the volcano many times and being arrested for it as well. lol.
We got to a point where the van dropped us all off (there were about 10 of us) and then we hiked for 1.5 hours through the rainforest. We had some GREAT views of the volcano, and although it had been super cloudy and rainy in the day, it was perfectly clear around the volcano for us to see it. The hike was cool. Mostly downhill. We saw a viper snake, some animal with a Spanish name that looked like a mix between a raccoon and badger, a howler monkey, and many spider monkeys.
After the hike, we
got back in the van and it drove us to the other side of the volcano where we could see the lava. We waited until dark and then the light show began! Never seen lava before, nor had Walter, so this was pretty cool. It was hard to get photos, as the settings on my camera either caught the light of the volcano and the lava but it blurry, or was not blurry but was dark. I did get one out-of-focus-picture though where you can see the lava coming down the side. Pics to come once home!
After watching the volcano with MANY other observers standing around, we went to the Baldi Springs Resort for a delicious buffet dinner and to enjoy the hot springs with water heated by the volcano. Dinner was great - rice, beans, potato stew, fish, pork, salad. Mmmm. The hot springs were awesome too. There were TONS of pools of varying temperatures. Some hot (too hot to do anything but stick my big toe in), some warm, and some cold. It kind of reminded me of the same idea of the place near Blue Mountain called Scandinave, where Estelle and I have gone for
the past two years - GREAT for your circulation to go between the hot and cold! This place also had waterslides which was fun. Walt and I both did the one that starts REAL high up, is completely dark because you're in a tube and can't see where the turns are, and there's a HUGE drop at the end so you come really splashing out at the end.
Very romantic place with great atmosphere. Walt and I were so relaxed that we felt exhausted when we got back. We hung up our wet clothes on the clothesline that thankfully I thought useful enough to bring, enjoyed a beer by the pool then headed to sleep in our tent. The matresses in the tent are great and the sound wasn't too bad (although reception does provide ear plugs for those people who it would bother) and we slept quite well. Walt is still sleeping as I write this.
It's a bit rainy today but the plan is to take a taxi to the entrance of the waterfall, hike the 15 minutes down to see it, go swimming, then hike the 15 minutes up to get back. Nothing like a
bit of exercise while on vacation! We were hoping to spend the afternoon being lazy by the pool but not sure the weather will let up. We'll see. It's still super warm and we're enjoying the adventures.
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Mom
non-member comment
Exciting!
It all sounds great - what a wonderful experience for the 2 of you - enjoy the rest of your trip and Merry Christmas! We will miss you like crazy Love Mom