Volcanos, Birds, Snakes, and Waterfalls - OH MY!

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Alajuela » Volcán Poás
October 14th 2007

Published: October 21st 2007

The boys were being grumpy about having their picture taken

We took a fun day trip to Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall/Animal Reserve. Our first stop was the volcano - a beautiful drive up lush green fields including many strawberry farms. You park at the top and then walk to the crater, where you are greeted by the amazing sight of a huge crater with swirling gases mixing with clouds coming down from the slopes of the crater. And the boys immediately noticed the sulfur smell. During the half hour we stayed at the crater viewpoint, it would periodically be blanketed by clouds and then suddenly they would dissipate in the sun. We have attached some photos but as with many things of this scale, our camera has really not done it justice. At the park there is also a neat blue lake formed by another (currently inactive) crater and some nice hiking trails where we saw hummingbirds and other birds.

The bulk of the day was spent at the Laz Paz reserve. It was amazing (and given the admission prices, it should be). There is a huge aviary with all kinds of native birds - toucans, scarlet macaws, parrots, ducks, and bare-necked umbrella birds. They fly right up

Poas is still an active volcano

next to you - and in some cases on you. Kyle was in heaven. They also have collections of monkeys, a big indoor butterfly garden, a snake exhibit (Sam went back twice), and very cool frogs of amazing colors. There is also a series of 5 breathtaking waterfalls that you hike down slippery steps to see. When you add in the swirling clouds of the rain forest, it is truly a special place.

On the home front, the boys successfully completed their trimester mid-terms with very good scores. They studied very hard and we were very proud of their efforts. They have 6 weeks left of school until the 2-month "summer" break before the start of the next school year (the Costa Rican school calendar runs February to November).

Nancy and Steve spent their first week as the only volunteers at the clinic. So, while it was a little strange to not have any other Americans around, it was great fun talking (and laughing ALOT) with Christian and Dayan. This will be the case until mid-November when the next volunteers are scheduled to arrive. And things get really exciting during the first 2 weeks of November when Christian

The clouds breaking

and Dayan go to El Salvador to work at the FIMRC clinic there. It will just be us and a replacement doctor (a friend of Christian's who fortunately speaks English).

The big news here in Costa Rica was the devastating flooding in some parts of the country caused by torrential rains - apparently this year is the rainiest it has been in 30 years. 20 people died and thousands have been dislocated from their homes. The pictures on the news are unbelievably sad. Fortunately, we (and the clinc) have not suffered any ill consequences of all the rain.

Finally, we are starting a new list at the Struthers house: Most out-of-place tshirts we see on a Tico. We have 2 submissions to get the list "seeded." The first was on one of the kids at the clinic - Los Altos Hills Swim Club. Our Stanford/Northern California friends will know this as one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of the Silicon Valley. The second was on a man outside the gas station in our city - South Dakota AARP. We can only imagine the series of events that led to that shirt landing on his back.

Additional photos below

Photos: 24, Displayed: 24