We were to have an early start this morning, but it always takes an extra long time for wives and children to get ready. So, in fact, the morning was quite leisurely and I helped with various domestic activities, well, mostly hauling vegetables and fruit from the open market that is set up on Saturday mornings in the square. Oh yes, and we planted a tree in the backyard.

We set off around 11am for the Arenal volcano in the northern/central part of the country. The route is tortuous, full off curves and hills, but lovely. We passed through rich hilly and mountainous country punctuated by villages and lovely retirement homes along the way. A few areas of the road had been damaged badly from earthquakes. The volcano eventually emerged from the clouds revealing it’s near perfectly-shaped cone. Around this area, Jorge and his wife own some land and we stopped for about an hour and planted more trees. We also cut down some “pipas” and “guanabana”. I haven’t even tried the “pipas” yet, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have either in the US. Basically, everything grows down here plentifully with very little effort.

We arrived at the comfortable little hotel and enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing in the pool and enjoying the perfect view of the volcano. Jorge explained that we were quite lucky to be able to see the volcano as clearly as we could, especially this time of the year. But, later, the clouds engulfed it again.

The next day, Jorge woke me up around 6 so I wouldn’t miss more views of volcano, which now had thin lenticular clouds sitting on the top of the cone. Around 6:30, the clouds had formed again, enveloped the cone, and slowly descended lower and lower.

We decided to go visit the “hanging bridges”, one of the many touristy walks through the rain-forest canopy in the vicinity of the volcano. While it was way overpriced (two different prices for nationals and visitors), I enjoyed it. To my surprise, Jorge and his family, having already been there twice and opted to wait by the car. The girl at the ticket counter estimated an hour to an hour and a half. I had no watch with me and ended up staying two hours. Time flies when you’re having fun. The canopy walk is a two mile loop and has a couple of rougher trails that connect different sections of the loop and one dead end trail to a waterfall. There weren’t many people visiting, but most everyone had a guide with them and were walking slowly. I didn’t want to blast through this, but I also wanted to go solo through the rain-forest. So, I made good use of the connecting trails and looped around more than once, finding plenty of solo time. Everyone else I saw was bypassing the other trails, except for one party whom, upon seeing me climb back up the trail from the waterfall, I persuaded to go visit the waterfall.

“How far is it?”
“Oh, 150 to 200 feet vertically.”
“Is it worth it?”
“Of course, you’re in a Costa Rican rain forest! Here’s your chance to see a beautiful waterfall nestled within a mossy cliff.”

I didn’t quite say it that way, but they ended up going. Anyway, as for animal life, I saw one large tropical bird (heard many of them), a caravan of ants hauling leaves, and a ton of monkeys swinging through the trees. Later, when I finally returned, I saw that two bulls had somehow busted down a section of the fence and had ran through the parking lot. I laughed watching a group of kids trying to scare each into thinking the bulls were coming back.

We returned back to the San Jose area afterwards, taking a different route to take in new and different scenery. We stopped along the way in a small town whose main square featured lots of shrubbery sculptures. I liked this town a lot. It sat high on a ridge between two valleys. The misty clouds passing through gave it a mystical feel. Around 5pm, the clouds opened up again and dropped more heavy rain on the landscape. Jorge dropped me off at Hugo’s sisters house in Alajuela where I’d spend one night and day before setting off together with Jorge to Cerro Chirripo.