Down 1 Tiffany, Up One Volcano

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After a dreaded 5 AM wake up, we got Tiffany and Alexa to the airport successfully. Apparently they had no problems, their plane was on time, and they’re now enjoying the relative cool of Canada, including a fresh layer of snow at home.It was about 2 1/2 hours to Fortuna and we had most of the day ahead of us, so we decided to try the local hot springs. They naturally mix with the river so there’s different temperature pools so going to the hot springs in a tropical country isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Options range from free public pools to high-end and swanky. We opted for high-end and swanky. It was expensive but it was very nice and apparently the only place where the water is not treated - just routed through seemingly endless pools that range from natural riverbed-like to ones done in beautiful stonework.
After being satiated in the pools, we had a very nice lunch with a perfect volcano view. They almost cloudless sky allowed us to see gas escaping the top of the volcano. Apparently some people come here for a week and never see the volcano due to the persistent cloud cover. We feel very lucky.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon looking at the lake, browsing for some art, and having a beer while waiting for our check-in.
We are staying at Tico Bob’s for a few nights. We were glad to find the place included access to three dogs — booger, buddy and benji. It’s perfect timing as Scott has been missing his dogs.
After a delicious dinner of rice and beans, we settled into bed early as we had a big hike in the next day.

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