La Fortuna
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We left San Jose yesterday and arrived in La Fortuna. We hired a guide to take us mountain biking around Arenal Volcano – it was great! The volcano is still active, and several times during our ride we could here it erupt – unfortunately, as this is the wet season in the rain forest, we could not actually see the top of the volcano, but the eruptions sounded a lot like thunder. Our guide was very good about explaining the history of the volcano to us. The last big eruption was in 1980 at 7:00 am – it spewed hot ash in a cloud around the volcano for 14 km, and killed 87 people in 2 villages that were destroyed. Five years later the side of the volcano was blown off by a lava eruption, and he showed us exactly where the flow went – it looked like a long, low hill that tapered out from the base of the volcano. The amazing thing is, if you weren´t told how recently the volcano had erupted, you would never know, as things grow so quickly in the rain forest that the village area and the lava flow are completely covered in full grown trees, tropical plants and flowers. The animals are all back, and the government has dammed a lake at the base of the volcano for hydro electric power.
Last Day in San Jose
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We´ve been busy – yesterday we went to the Gold and Jade museums, did a walking tour of the city and met several interesting characters. Today we hired a fantastic taxi driver named Jose to take us outside of the city to some sites that are not conveniently accessed by public transit, but are well worth seeing. We went to the Dokas Coffee plantation, Zoo Ave (a zoo that´s full of endangered or injured animals that are being rehabilitated before re-introduction to the wild), and a town famous for it´s arts and crafts called Sarchi where they make beautiful wood and leather furniture, and they´re famous for their painted ox carts – if you can be famous for that.
Made it to San Jose
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WeÅ•e going into major dog withdrawal… We left Sandie & Phineas with the Draper’s on Friday, and left for Thunder Bay on Saturday (07/07/07) – the most popular wedding day of the year. There were two weddings going on in the hotel we stayed at with the Gibbon’s, and the guests staying in the room beside us had two dogs in it. Hordes of little kids who were part of the wedding parties kept running by in the hall, yelling “woof!” at the door next to us, and the dogs were vigilant in their responses. It made us really want our doggies. That aside, we had a great time with our friends before we flew to Toronto and spent the night in the terminal because we’re too cheap to pay $169.00 a night for a room we would have to vacate at 3:30 am anyways. Sleeping in airports tip for Pearson International: Terminal 3, at the end of the check in desks by American airlines is very quite (compared to the rest of the terminal) and practically deserted. If you can get a bench to yourself, you’ve got it made (all things being relative).
Booking Hotels
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Well we are finally getting around to booking the hotels that we require for our trip. The ones we need for transit and before and after our tour begins and ends. A tid bit of information when booking accommodation’s in Costa Rica, do not book motels as they are usually rented by the hour. We have booked the following hotels in Costa Rica:
Central American Trip
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We are planning to travel to Central America this summer, traveling from San Jose, Costa Rica to Cancun, Mexico. The trip we are taking is through Gap Adventures and includes the following highlights:
