Our first day in Quepos and Kay, Amy, and Alan are off to do a canopy tour… a.k.a zip lines above the rain forest. Not really my cup of tea, the hanging bridges was enough thrill thank you. So for me it was catch up on things as the hotel has wireless internet for $4.00 an hour. It’s slow, you can only by an hour at a time but it’s better than nothing. It was nice to sit on the deck look out to the ocean and get a few things done. They were back at around 1:00pm, after leaving at 7:00am, and had an excellent time.

The gig was everyone traverses from tree to tree, 8 to 10 in a group, then gather on a tree stand clipped in as their were no railings. One by one fly to the next stand, clip in and keep going. The zip lines were interupted by one “tarzan swing” and a couple rapels. The vote was unanimous it was one of the best excersions of the trip. Glad they all had fun and I passed. Maybe one day I’ll get more comfortable with heights.

The afternoon was a lazy one, hanging out by the pool for a bit and girls catching a nap. As dinner time rolled around we walked up the road, and I mean up, a block or so to a El Avion owned by the hotel. It is set in a C123 cargo plane where the story behind it is it was used by the Regan administration to support the rebels in Nicaragua. Food was good but portions were big. Tomorrow, last day in Costa Rica before heading home, we’ll trek to the Manuel Antonio park. Known for it’s diverse animals and plants it has three beaches and a number of nature trails.

For any of the Calhoun clan that might want to see a few pics of them here are a handful for ya’ll. I’m sure Amy will send some pics your way once we’re all back.

Today is a travel day as we’re up at 7:30am to check out, grad a quick breakfast and be on the road by 8:30. It’s a 5 to 6 hour drive from La Fortuna to Quepos were we’ll be staying at the Hotel Costa Verde fro the rest of our trip. Along the way we stopped on a bridge to see some crocodiles sunning in the river and made it to the hotel by 3:00pm. Opening the door to the room we were greated with an ocean view and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. With the rooms equipped with a stove and refrigerator I’m not sure we’ll be leaving the hotel accept for a trip to the store for supplies. The view says it all.

No adventuring this afternoon. Amy and Alan will be wandering off to the store for supplies, but Kay and I are heading down to the pool and we’ll all spend the evening in.

p.s. the hotel has wireless internet but no TV in the room. Guess we’ll have to make do.

Another dry morning but clouds still covered most of Arenal. Today’s activies have not been planned but after a quick breakfast it was decided we go to the Arenal Waterfall for this mornings excersion. It’s about a 20 minute taxi ride from the resort and $7.00 a person to enter. We hadn’t looked to much into what we’d expect, other than a sizeable waterfall. It’s about a 20-25 minute hike down to the falls fairly steep and narrow. On the way down there’s a couple observations platforms to view the falls from waterfall from and when at the bottom the view up is very impressive. The waterfall plunges into a large pool which runs down a river lined with large bolders. Well worth the trip. The hike back up is a little more stressful but a good workout none the less.

We headed back to the resort for a break before another trek to the volcano at 3:30pm. The plan was to do a little hiking, no guide, and see what their was. We had to hussel a little as we didn’t realize the gates to the park closed at 4:00 to give everyone time to get out by 5:30pm. We were able to make it in time which left us plenty of time for the 2 kilometers to the lava flow from 1992. As we walked through a narrow trail surrounded by tall vegitation we kept hearing “whoosh”, “whoosh” similar to the heavy breathing of a large animal. It was almost rythmic and it took a moment to realize it was the volcano. It’s alive !!!!!

We reached the old lava flow after about 20 minutes and walked up a crude set of steps part manufatured part lava rock. From there we followed a trail of yellow arrows painted on rocks and stakes, painted in yellow as well, across lava rocks for a couple hundred yards. We reached a good vantage point where we could see the lake behind us and Arenal in front. We spent about 15 minutes there listening in silence only broken by the singing of birds, “whoosh” from the volcano, and the crackling of bolders tumbling down. Their were a few times where we could see bolders flying down the side after being broke loose by what seemed to be its breathing. Their were no eruptions like we saw the two days prior but ti was a sight to see. No one else was around, just us four, and was a excellent ending to our 4 days here in La Fortuna. Tomorrow morning, 8:30am, we’ll leave for our 6 hour trip to the coast where we’ll spend the rest of week.

No rain this morning just clouds as Arenal is not visable and if you didn’t know you’d never think a volcano was right in front of you. But that is common and the clouds should burn off by late morning. At breakast we decided white water rafing was in order as their are a number of different trips you can take. We decided against the float trip as much of the wild life is small and alligators would only be out if the weather was right. So we booked a trip with Wave Expeditions that was a 2 hours on the water that included lunch. It was well worth it. The water was great, rapids were challenging but not to scary (class 2 & 3) and views were excellent. After getting out of the river we headed just up the road to a resturant for lunch. What an unbelievable spot for a resturaunt. One of the best views of the Arenal we have had yet.

Once back at the resort we had an opportunity to go view the volcano just after dusk. We were pretty worn out from the rafting so an hour or so’s rest before heading out again seemed to be a good idea. It was about a 30 minute drive to the volcano and their are a number of viewing areas where tourists gather at dusk, and later, to view small eruptions. It was a cloudy night so not much was viewable but we did get to see some lava flowing and large bright bolders tumbling down if only for a a minute or two here and there.

After about 30 minutes at the volcano we headed back to town for dinner. We stopped by Wave Expeditions store to check out their pics from rafting and piced up a CD for $35. A decent deal as that was for both boats as Amy and Alan were not in the same boat as Kay and I. We then stopped in at Nannes for dinner, a quiet little place a block down from the square. The night was capped off with a magic trick from the waiter that like most was to obvious to be figured out without a magician’s slow explanation.