Our Trip to Volcan Arenal

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This weekend is our three day weekend and we don't have to report back to class until Tuesday morning. Ten of us got a tour company to get us a reservation in Arenal which is north on the map, but it is impossible to drive that way because of the Tilaran Mountain Range. So we took a van through some small hills for 1 1/2 hours, then a boat across Lake Arenal for one hour and then a half hour van ride to our hotel. Five of us opted for a nicer accommodation and 5 others opted for a hostel in the town of La Fortuna. Just getting here was kind of an adventure.

At first my group in the nicer hotel were kind of perturbed that we were so far from town, until the clouds cleared and we could see that we have a wonderful view of the Volcano Arenal. I tried to take a night picture of the volcano with the moon nearby, but this did not come out at all. We could actually see fire coming out of the volcano and the smoke blowing to the west, which was really cool.

The first evening we took a taxi into town and ate at a cool restaurant called "the Lava Lounge" complete with lava lamps in the bathrooms. The town of La Fortuna is typical tico because in its center is the park and the catholic church. Because our lunch at the hotel was so expensive we decided to stock up at the grocery store for the rest of the weekend. We all got our favorites and shared Sunday afternoon. Our hotel has a really nice breakfast for us, so we are outfitted well for the rest of the weekend. On Monday afternoon we will do the van, boat, van adventure back to Monteverde so that we can start back on our projects on Tuesday.

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Photos

On Route to Arenal
One van took half the group followed by a second van with the other half

On the Van
Emily and Jill don't mind the bumpy ride to Lago Arenal.

On the Boat across Lago Arenal
Emily enjoys the boat ride.

In La Fortuna
La Fortuna is a little town to the east of the Volcano. You just don't want to build a town too close to an active volcano.

Sunday
Clouds obscure Volcan Arenal

Lounging Students
Janelle and Jennifer allow their pet to sleep with them. Ticos thing we Americans are strange because we really do let our pets sleep with up (not just fake ones).

Stephanie
Stephanie is the calmest student in the whole group. She lives near Doug in Pinellas County and graduated from St. Leo College which is in Pasco County (Wesley Chapel).