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Published: April 15th 2008
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There was a slight hitch on our first full day in San Jose resulting in Hugh and I having to spend another night there while the rest of the group headed off first thing in the morning to La Fortuna in the north west. A couple of the group had ended their trip on our first night in San Jose and gone off on their way. The second night a group of new people arrived taking the total group size to 18, more than double the previous number and I feared this would feel a lot more like a group trip.
However, our enforced stay in San Jose meant that we missed the organised bus and had to sort out a local bus up there the following morning. The bus was reasonably comfortable and luckily we got seats but they endlessly stopped to pick people up along the way so the bus was completely packed with people standing right down the aisles for much of the journey. It also took about an hour and half longer than the bus they took the day before. But eventually we arrived into La Fortuna and found the hotel where the others were staying.
Unfortunately (although it turned out to be fortunately!) the reception of the hotel was closed and Steve, the tour leader, was unable to get hold of them anywhere so he disappeared to find us somewhere else to stay for the night. This turned out to be hugely to our advantage as the rooms the rest of the group were in were small and very hot but Steve managed to negotiate a great deal at a lovely hotel down the road. This had air conditioning and a lovely pool - it was a pity we did not have more time there to enjoy it but we did managed one swim.
We also managed to get onto a trip with a guided walk through a nearby nature reserve followed by some lava viewing at Volcan Arenal. We were rewarded with spider monkeys, lots of parrots, the odd toucan and a neotropical bird snake on the walk also with lovely views of the volcano.
The volcano was quiet for nearly 400 years but there was a large eruption in 1968 engulfing some local villages which put the area on the tourist map and now thousands of people come each year to
try to catch a glimpse of the red hot lava. Arenal is classified by scientists as one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world so is constantly monitored and, as you can imagine, you can´t get that close. Unfortunately for many of the hotel owners on the La Fortuna side, the lava flow changed direction a few years ago meaning the it is coming down the other side so a bumpy ride took us to the viewing point. We were quite lucky as, although clouds had come down since we´d been on the walk, there were still parts of the volcano on show and we got a couple of firework shows as lava tumbled down the side of the volcano. The clouds even parted briefly towards the top to give us a glimpse of it spouting out of the crater. However, it was all some distance away and not quite as spectacular as Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala.
Dinner that night was particularly memorable - a huge plate of grilled vegetables - we seem to spend much of our time searching for vegetables and have even told people we are vegetarian at times to try to get sufficient
but this was magnificent!
The following morning we set off for Santa Elena, the small town next to Monteverde Cloud Forest, one of the most famous reserves in Costa Rica. After a short bus ride we switched to a boat to cross Laguna Arenal. This was surrounded by rolling green hill - very beautiful but also rather like many places at home. It really could have been the lake district which was a big surprise to us and very different from the landscape we´ve become used to in Central America.
After a hold up over a possible horse ride for two of the girls which didn´t come off, we crossed the lake in about an hour and then got onto large 4-wheel drive vehicles for the unpaved, very windy road to Santa Elena. Monteverde was settled by Quakers many years ago and there is still a sizeable quaker community. They and others in the area actually managed to make Monteverde into a protected area and still act to protect the area today, including campaigning against proper surfacing of the roads into the area so that the tourist traffic remains relatively low. Even with all that, this is one of the most visited areas in the country with lots of additional activities available but I never felt like the area was overun with people.
We were staying in a small hotel just up a very steep hill out of the town with lovely views across the valley. It was only a couple of days later when the sky cleared that we realised we could see the Gulf of Nicoya and Nicoya Peninsula in the distance. I was excited about the wildlife opportunities here but you´ll have to wait till next time to find out what we saw.
Hope all´s well with everyone?
Lots of love
H + S xx
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Jan
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Watch out for the eruption
Sounds really interesting - I'll share this page with Graham (neighbour) as I'm sure he'll want to see the volcano! Thanks for the postcard.