costa rica - arenal

arenal - day 5-6
march 13 - 14

after leaving the carribean we dropped off erin in san jose and drove to see volcano arenal. arenal is active, though it wasnt terribly so while were there. you can, however, hear the explosions and see smoking chunks of rock and lava tumbling down the mountain.



arenal is almost always wrapped in clouds. i took this picture a little befor 7am from a little cabina in la fortuna were we staying. our host was a very friendly family that spoke not a single word of english.




arnaud and francois by the muy peligroso sign



a lava flow from 1992



they dont let you go any closer but you can hear it from here.



by night (duh). but if you look close you can see the lava glowing read nearer the base of arenal



by night (!, you can see stars). lava is near the top and the red from the previous picture is gone so you can tell that it was "exploded" there from probably near the top.



near arenal a bit outside la fortuna is a 90m waterfall.



the little specks on the right side are some college students climbing around behind the waterfall.



lunch. i think we ate plantain chips, cheese, bread, mayo and some fruit for lunch almost everyday. most of the time it was in the car as we were driving from one place to another.













going for a dip



behind the falls



laguna arenal on the drive to monteverde





friendly critter looking for a bite




laguna arenal again. really the pictures dont come within a mile of showing how beautiful this place was. laguna arenal is a reservoir and the largest body of freshwater in central america




one of the best kite surfing spots in the world. you can see a kite surfer in this picture.




this one was actually on the way too arenal, but if you look closely, near the other side there are two planks that a laid across the roadway because a part of the bridge failed, ie, if you cant aim the tires over the planks you fall off the bridge.




shortly after san jose also on the drive to arenal. on the way we drove through san francisco and los angeles.