This morning started off rainy, but it is the beginning of the rainy season, and after a few hours it cleared off. We couldn’t decide on what to do so we headed down to the pool around 10:30 waiting for the cloud cover to burn off. The pool, similar to our bungalow, has an excellent view of the volcano. At around 11:30am we were greated with a small eruption where smoke and hot ash were clearly visable. An excellent photo opportuntiy but we only had the underwater camera, so no digital pic of it.

With the clould cover burned off and the sun coming out we scheduled a trip to the Arenal Hanging Bridges which is just a short 20 minute drive from the resort. George, one of the event coordinators here, tagged along as he worked at the place for a few years before coming to the hotel. That and their wasn’t much going on in the way of guest looking for things to do. It was Sunday afternoon and most were either heading out or on their way in.

I was hesitant at first, since heights is not my thing, but after getting there and seeing what it was I felt better. Their were half a dozen suspension bridges made of steel where you walked across metal grates that served as the walk way (see through) and chain link fencing four feet up on each side. Cables came down from the spans and each bridge averaged 60 meters long and 50 meters high. All but two of the bridges had so much rain forest around them you really didn’t notice the height. It was the bouncing and swaying when you walked across which made things interesting. But it was an excellent excursion we got to see monkeys, birds, posionous frogs, snakes, and a variety of plants. George our guide made the trip more enjoyable as we would not have noticed many of those things without his help.

The short trip back was delayed twice as we stopped once for tucan watching and a second to view another erruption of Arenal. Once back at the resort it was a little R & R back at the pool, visiting with some other guests from Pensecola, FL and MD. As they had been here longer than us we picked their brains on what to do. The hot springs and horse back riding seemed to be a favorite. It was about 4:30pm by this time and it was clear weather was moving in. You could see the clouds building and the rain coming so it was back to the bungalow for a shower, wait for a break in the rain and then head to town for some dinner.

For dinner we went to La Choza De Laurel an open air resturant next to Bruger King and Chruches Chicken in downtown La Fortuna. Taxi ride was $8.00 (US) or $3,500 (colonas). Taxis park around the square in the center of town with bus stop style loading, so their’s no trouble getting a ride back. Dinner was capped off with Kay getting the Red Snapper and promptly switching meals with me as she has some trouble with the one eye ball staring at her. Not the way you’d typically have fish served back home, but it was excellent… she agreed to after a few bites.

With the rain had stopped we enjoyed are meal highlighted by the local stray dogs hanging around waiting for any scraps that wandered onto the floor. Even though you’d not see that back home I only wish I could get our two to be that calm and relaxed around people, food, autos and other animals. After dinner it was a short walk through some shops before heading back. Rain was done for the evening and it was off to bed.