Costa Rica - Arenal, Monteverde, Alajuela

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After La Tortuga Feliz, I caught up with Nathalie from the project, in San Jose. We took a long, windy, but beautiful ride up to Monteverde, where we (or at least I) screamed through 15 ziplines over the cloud forest, and I took the plunge on a Tarzan swing.

We then caught up with 2 more volunteers, Patrick and Galina, in Arenal, where we went to the Baldi Thermal Springs. It was part of a tour - go to Volcan Arenal to see red hot lava pour down the side, then a relaxing dip in the springs. Unfortunately the weather was totally crap, pouring with rain... so the guides suggested that we go to the springs first and come back to the volcano later, when hopefully the weather had cleared up. My personal opinion was that they knew how chilled out we would be after the springs and it would be like, 'Lava, who gives a shit about lava...!' Nah, our guides were great and there was this deal that if you didn't see lava on your first night, you could keep coming back for free until you did!

But luckily the weather had cleared up by the time we had soaked ourselves at this amazing resort and had a few beers (conducive to more patience). It was Totally amazing to watch actual lava roll and tumble down the side of the volcano...! (and very difficult to get a good picture of)

After Arenal I made my own way to Alajuela, where I saw yet another active volcano, Volcan Poas. Again the weather made it seem like a fruitless wait was in store (it was totally white with fog). But then, out of the blue, the fog lifted and WOAH!!! Like nothing I've ever seen before! Before my very eyes was the crater of an active volcano (but not too active to blow I imagine) - smoke and sulphur galore. I could have sat there for hours just looking at it.

Originally I was going to do 3 weeks at the turtle project and fly straight to South America, my main destination, but Costa Rica has been fabulous and I'm so glad that I was able to see a tiny bit of it. The people are friendly, the volcanos rock and the boys are cute, what more could you ask for lol..!

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Photos

About to go on a zipline!
Yup and feeling a bit nervous despite the smile...

Jumping off
Now I'm really nervous, it's just not natural to stand on a ledge and want to jump of.... but I did and it was cool!!

Towed in
This was the longest zipline of the lot and quite a few of us had to be pulled in by our (rather cute) guide. But Not a nice feeling to be waiting stationary so high up. Eep!

Our guides
They were great, professional but crazy ;)

Foxy
At the first of many wetbars at the Baldi Hotsprings in Arenal...

Hello Ladies..
This is fun!

One more please
Finally Patrick gets to be in a photo!

Arenal
Volcan Arenal as we were coming in from Monteverde

See the little red dot?
Well that's Arenal with lava... The actual sight of it though (esp the next night) was incredible..

The lava hunt
On the night of the tour, it was very cloudy (which was better than the weather earlier that night - pouring rain), and if you can fit this pic to screen you may see a little something lol!

I was here...
Volcan Poas when I arrived

Not too hopeful at the weather
I took pictures of the local 'wildlife' instead...

Holy Cow...
It's a(n active) volcanic crater..........