Arenal Volcano

We decided to go to see the second most active volcano in Central America, Arenal Volcano.  We left Jaco in the morning and stopped in Liminal for a rest stop where we got to see a lot of Scarlet Macaws hanging around for some free food.  Yes, these guys are wild!

We also got to see a Green Macaw while at the rest stop and a few other birds that I won’t post here for now.   We’ve been lucky being able to always find something new as we travel.

When we finally got to La Fortuna the sun had disappeared.  This is cloud forest and rain forest country.  Apparently this is normal.  We made arrangements to see the volcano at night hoping to see lava.  

When we got to the site we found out that we would be hiking about an hour up the volcano slope as darkness was descending.  Of course that meant we would have to come back down in total darkness.

Needless to say, I was VERY nervous about the whole thing.  The first part was to cross this bridge then head up a muddy and slippery faint trail.   Obviously I didn’t fall over the edge of the trail in the darkness on the way up or down.  We did see a couple of flashes of red and heard the volcano bellowing and rocks falling.  It was some experience.

This is Arenal Volcano as we saw it when we woke up the next day in La Fortuna.  We could actually see the volcano, something that isn’t exactly a normal experience.

We had decided to take a walking tour on the hanging bridges of the rain forest on some hills to the north of the volcano.  The tour was to take the whole morning, so we knew we were in for a good hike on trails and over bridges in the rain forest.

On the way to the hanging bridges we got to see this howler monkey near the road’s edge as well as this strange looking animal that is related to North American Raccoons.  Hopefully I will find out what it is called before heading home so that I can let you know what it was.

There, I finally worked in a photo of the two of us on the hanging bridges, again proof that I was also on this trip.

Not all of the animals we saw were “safe” ones.  Take this snake for example.  It is actually quite deadly, an Eyelash Pit Viper.  To get a decent photo of this little guy, I actually got VERY close making our guide do a double take.  We saw a much larger one but the photo quality wasn’t the best so I decided to go with this one.  I didn’t get too close to the bigger snake.

As we drove in the mid afternoon to again see if we would get a decent look at the volcano and lava, I managed to get this photo of a Toucan.  Thank goodness for a good telephoto lens.

Waiting for the sun to set from our observation point after a good hike to some waterfalls, we were able to watch the rocks coming out of the volcano as they skipped down the side of the volcanic mountain.  When it got dark enough, the rocks traced red paths as they bounced and broke apart.  We finally got what we came for – seeing a real volcano as it does its thing.

The next morning we got to view the volcano as it blew off gases and sent more rocks down its slopes, from our balcony at the hostel.  It’s neat how good breakfast coffee goes with an active volcano in the background.

But all good things come to and end.  It wasn’t long before clouds built up around the volcano and hid it.  We lucked out.  We became part of the minority who actually got to see it crystal clear.  Most leave disappointed, cold and wet.  Memories of a lifetime for us.