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I´m now in the town of La Fortuna, which is next to Volcano Arenal. It is one of the word´s most 10 active volcanoes and is at least 5,400ft tall, but the top third is often cvered in cloud, The cloud has lifted or passed at times and then you can see some smoke coming out of the top as it explodes. It was dormant til 1968 whe it erupted for the first time, causing a lot of damage, and since then it has continued to erupt and daily activity is monitored. The lava flows are on the other side of the volcano to where we are, but at night you can sometimes see the lava, glowing in the dark, although this depends on the weather and it´s more usual not to see it than to see it. I may go later to try, we´ll see!
Since I last updated I had one final day in Puerto Viejo. Marion and I took a taxi in the end to Manzanillo beach, about 13km from Puerto Viejo. It was really pretty as expected! Typical paradise style beach, with palms lining the shore and crystal clear water! We walked along the beach, which was deserted, we didn´t see anyone til we got to the end, where there was a muddy slope leading somewhere....we asked someone what was up there and were told we "had to go" as it would give us a great view. So, we made it up the slope, with a few dodgy moments of alost slipping down, ha ha! Lost my flip flop at one ppoint! Once at the top it was a viewpoint over another small beach and gave you a view in both directions. No idea how you´d get to the little beach, but we decided not to go any further on the slippery mud, too dodgy! Going down was fun, luckily no falls but I did slip into the big tree at the bottom! Marion got a great photo!
We walked back along the beach, it was really hot by this point as the sun was out again, I´d not worn my sweimming costume as it´d been overcast and rainy. It was so hot I was tempted to go swimming in my underwear but I resisted the tenptation! My skirt did get wet though when a wave hit me as I was trying to get mud off my flip flops! We had lunch then sat on the beach til the bus came. On return to the hotel I found out my laudry hadn´t been done, I was gutted! If you say you´ll do something you should do it! So no clean clothes for me, luckiy I wasn´t completely out!
We had a nice dinner with the Cosa Rican friend of a friend of Marions, Pad Thai, not very Costa Rican but very tasty! Speaking of Costa Rican food, the staple is rice and beans. This usually comes as part of a ´casado´ which is a meal served with some type of meat or fish and salad. It sometimes includes plaitain, the vegetable type version of banana. A typical breakfast is ´Gallo Pnto´which is rice and beans cooked together, translating to ´Speckled hen´as the rice goes speckly coloured from mixed and cooked with the beans, often served with some kind of eggs. I´ve really enjoyed the fish and prawns on the coast and so far no problems not eating meat, as as you may know, I don´t eat much meat at home and tend to avoid it while I´away, I don´t miss it. I´d forgotten how good the fresh juice drinks are in this part of the world- juices made with almost any frut you can think of, fresh fruit mixed with water or milk. I love the watermelon (with water), and second and third are melon and strawberry, but they are all great! And refreshing too, needed here, where it is still hot and humid!
So, anyway, on Thursday, Marion and I walked to the bus ´station´, not a station, the bus just pulls up near the beach! My bus was first as Marion was heading on to the islands Boca el Toros in Panama (Puerto iejo was only 90 minutes from the Panama boarder, with more time I might have gone there too). The bus was very, very hot though it did start to cool a little as we headed over the mountains to San Jose. The bus took about 4.5 hours and it seemed cooler in San Jose- a wecome relief to me. I met a few girls from the group at the hotel already, so we walked a few blocks to the bank and some food, chose the first thing we saw, a Subway, since it was pouring with rain, bouncing off the floor type rain! It luckily had stopped by the time we walked back but despite umbrellas and ran jackets we were pretty wet! Group meeting at 7.30 then off out for food, it was about 9.30 by this point so all pretty hungry! We went to a cosa rican type diner, was ok, but the order got messed up so I ended up sorting it, someone said my teacher side was coming through, oops, but someone had to do it! Also working out the bill for 11 people to pay seperately was a bit of a mission! By the time I went to bed it was 12 so was a bit tired after only 6 hours sleep, though I did sleep well, better than I have for a while, no fan whirring, not tossing and turning,, and San Jose is a lot cooler, I even wore my fleece out for dinner, it wasn´t that cold but I didnt bring just a jumper!
Friday we left at 7am to come to Arenal Volcano. Arrived about 10.30 and spent about 90 minutes at the tour operators office so people could book activities, et. Rafting,, canyoning, water reppelling, etc not really my thing. so i didnt book anything! For some reason my feet and legs were swollen yesterday so I booked a massage, plus mud face mask- very relaxing! But actually think it was a bit hard across my shoulers as they are aching today. Got my leandry back (yay!!) and went for a lovely dinner, a ´casado´with Tilapia fish, very tasty. Ended up going to sleep by 10 and slept til 11 today- must´ve really needed the sleep, and I slept really well.. Read for a bit, went out for breakfast/lunch and an icecream (yes, still hot and humid!). Guess you could call it a lazy day!
We´re off to Monteverde cloud forest in the morning, which should be good, 7am departure, not so good! Ha ha!
Just looking at the Volcano from where I am sitting, it´s almost half covered by cloud, don´t think they´ll be any lava to see later!
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Yaslenny What an amazing place. Had never heard of it berfoe. Ill be sure to forward this video and see who if any of my friends are able to get some time off work.Any wi-fi? I know I shouldnt even be asking that question but its an addiction.Peace ..and it ALWAYS helps.PS You guys should have some Tshirts or schwag made for Travel Costa Rica Now.com and sell it. Everyone would buy some just a though!