San Jose to Arenal Volcano

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This morning we boarded a bus for a drive around San Jose before leaving for La Fortuna at the base of the Arenal Volcano. There is one building that was built in the last century and made of sheets of metal. It was shipped to San Jose from Europe, but the blueprints weren't included. The metal plates were stored for a year when the "direction book" finally arrived. On our drive through the countryside, we saw acres of sugar cane, coffee, papayas, bananas, and lots of other crops that I didn't recognize. We drove through Costa Rica's beautiful mountains on narrow, twisting roads as we climbed higher. Since this is the rainy season, and we are in the tropics, it rained most of the afternoon. The clouds were so low, that the drive in the mountains took us right through some of them. Marshall suggested we play "I Spy", but as we looked out the bus windows, all we could say was, "I spy something green." Everything was covered in vegetation. We made a stop at a small town called Sarchi. It was a German settlement long ago, and they have continued producing wood and leather crafts that started with their ancestors. They also build and paint oxcarts which were the traditional form of transportation before they could haul things in trucks. The decorative painting and use of oxcarts was brought over by immigrants from Italy long ago. After more bus travel, we stopped in a small town for lunch. The typical Costa Rican meal is called "cansado" and consists of rice, beans, salad, plantains, and some kind of meat. The portions are big, and the food is good! Gate 1 Travel helps to support several schools in the area, so they took us to an elementary school to visit. The kids presented some songs and folk dances. Then they fed us some mangos off the trees in the schoolyard. It was a fun visit, because the kids were cute and entertaining. Finally, we arrived at our lodge, and it is beautiful. There are individual cottages placed up and down the hillside with tropical vegetation everywhere. They tell us we'll see the volcano right behind us when we get up in the morning, but right now it's hidden in clouds. Dinner was at a restaurant in La Fortuna. It was really good, but I was still too full from lunch! As I'm writing this, the rain has stopped and the tropical night noises have started. It is so peaceful.

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Photos

School students
These were two of the dancers who demonstrated their traditional dances when we visited their school.

Lomas del Volcan
These are two of the cottages like ours. The clouds were covering most of the background.