COSTA RICA.....our amazing race....leg 2

Team Judd arose and began their journey to 

Volcán Poás National Park, about 19 miles northwest.  Tempted by a charming roadside cafe, they opted to stop and enjoy a second breakfast.  Having just eaten a hotel breakfast of fresh fruit and banana bread, they limited their order to a few empanadas and some hot chocolate.     

Before we had finished and without even the slightest request, the proprietor whipped up some fruit smoothies and set them before us. 

Minutes later and seemingly out of nowhere, this was offered without solicitation.  The language barrier prevented comprehendible conversation and it was impossible to refuse.  The team thought this was some sort of panilla (pancake tortilla) and eagerly baptised the thing with what they assumed was whipped cream and large sugar crystals.    A slight jolt of taste bud shock told them that it was butter and salt that they had diffused so liberally. 

While the Judds were scraping their tongues, the chef had gone down to her garden, picked some carrots, corn, and potatoes, and whipped up an amazing tamale.  In order to prevent certain stomach eruption, the thousands of colones were paid (a measly amount), and Team Judd continued on their journey to the volcano.  

The sight of this bubbling and steaming cauldron, belching clouds of steaming water, was truly astonishing. The volcano provides an excellent  example of the effects of acid rain. Around the crater, and for several miles downwind, the vegetation is stunted brown and black by the tainted moisture that precipitates from the omnipresent clouds near the peak. Ansel still would only be impressed if it was oozing glowing red lava.  

Lake Botos, the southern lake, fills an inactive crater, which last erupted 7500BC.  It is cold and clear, and is surrounded by a cloud forest located within the Poás Volcano National Park at almost 9000 feet above sea level..

Everything was so gigantic and surreal. The team kept reminding themselves that this was real and not a plastic Disneyland version of reality.  

After barely avoiding buying an entire souvenir shop, Team Judd drove though picturesque coffee plantations, bursting fruit stands, and small boys selling big bags of cheese.  The next stop of the day was the La Paz Waterfall Gardens which boasted of five waterfalls, a cloud forest and rain forest, hiking trails, an aviary with 40 species of birds, toucan feeding, marmoset monkeys, insect exhibit, butterfly observatory , two-toed sloths, Capuchin monkeys, black-handed spider monkeys, hummingbird garden, serpentarium, Jaguar, pumas, ocelots, jaguarundi, margays, casita de la paz, ranarium (frog exhibit), and an unforgettable buffet.  

Team  must next tendure a terrifying bus ride back to the parking lot.  Savanna faces a personal demon of fear and chooses not to look. 

The final portion of the day was filled with more driving.  The scenery was beautiful. The roads were atrocious.

The kids slept and read through it all.  

Just as the sun is setting, Arenal Volcano comes into magnificent view.  This is the location of the next leg of the race. 

Leg 3...Costa Rica

I am tired of speaking in third person.

Since we arrived at our hotel room after dark, it wasn't until morning when we realized that sleeping less than 2 miles from an active volcano provides a fairly magnificent reason to get out of bed.  We spent two nights here at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, which  grew out of buildings originally built for housing scientist and researchers from the Smithsonian Institute and Earthwatch.

I

We took advantage of the guided stroll that the Observatory offers to visitors each morning.  Eduardo, our tour guide who spoke very accented English, gave a humorous description of the history of the Volcano, only 50 percent of which we understood.   The fellow tourist in the yellow shirt is on an 8 month round the world vacation with his wife. I hope that Corey and I can do this someday.  Except, unlike his wife, in order to save the lifeforms in our vicinity, I will insist that Corey change his shirt occasionally.

One of us was too small to zip line, one of us was too scared, and one of us was a nice enough spouse to allow the other one to have all the fun.  While the other two were souring through the trees, the remaining three were enjoying a very leisurely stroll with Rudolpho, their tour guide, who must frequently be presented with some very lame tourists, because he assumed that he needed to explain to us that a spider has eight legs.  It took us 2 hours to walk a half of a mile.     I am pleased that we chose to mix some of our solo adventures with some guided adventures. It wasn't so much what the tour guide was teaching us, but the opportunity to get to know non-tourists.   Ansel still reminds us with atonishment that poor Rudolpho, who lives in a cloudforest, has never seen snow or leaves of autumn hue. 

The girls were thrilled that we had to pay for two of these rooms, giving them their own spacious apartment in the middle of the jungle. 

Ansel was thrilled with the towel swans.  It is always the little things. 

I will never forget the smell of this room key.  For the record, if you ever own a hotel, a large leather key chain is NOT a good idea.  It stunks, not to high heaven, but to low hell.   I made the kids sterilize themselves each time they touched the darn thing....which for some reason was quite often after I told them I didn't want them to touch it. 

Darkness fell by 5:30 each night and we spent these hours swimming in the pool, reading, and unwinding from the day.  

  

Our second night here, a torrential thunderstorm broke just as we sat down for dinner in the open  restaurant.  Ansel was too scared to eat, but staring in the face of such thunderstorm at the base of a volcano was a reminder of how our humanness is absolutely meaningless when compared to the power of Nature.  It was beautiful.

Shakespeare from The Tempest:

"Jove's lightning, the precursors O' th' dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake."

costa rica....leg 4

What looks like a short drive on the map is a four hour trek.  The volcano was completely cloud covered this morning and this made it less difficult to depart our Arenal oasis.  The arduous driving is matched by its beauty,  and I was grateful for out 15 km per hour pace.  It made for better people watching.  

The afternoon was spent at Sepulvea, running across hanging bridges, chasing hummingbirds, and hitting each other with gigantaleaves. 

What is now considered Monteverde was founded by Quakers from the United States whose pacifist values led them to defy the American draft during the Korean War.  Two brothers from this group built and run the Hotel Fonda Vela.  We checked in, roamed the immense gardens, and didn't want to leave.  Ansel, by the time in the trip, had become almost obnoxious as I am with his need to take pictures of everything.  

At dusk, we put on our raincoats, borrowed some flashlights, and spent 2 hours on a night hike in the Children's Eternal Rainforest with Graybean (that is how he pronounced his name), our personal tour guide.  The Children’s Eternal Rainforest  is the largest private reserve in Costa Rica, with an area of 22,500 hectares of protected tropical forest. 

 The Children’s Rainforest Movement began in 1987 with a small classroom in Sweden and has  continued to expand around the world. It was a tangible reminder to us and the kids that we can  affect change in the world.  At present, 44 different countries have contributed to the acquisition and protection of the land.  

I think I haven't mentioned that October is down month in Costa Rica.  It is considered the rainy season and many people close shop and don't bother trying to make a living.  It worked to our benefit in that we never had to fight crowds, had personal tour guides, and got special rainy season rates in our hotels.  The downside was that we felt personally responsible for the economic health of the country. 

The forest takes on new life in the dark and we saw innumerable amounts of insects and creepy crawly things.  We are all enjoying ourselves until we came across a few of these beautiful creatures nestled on the edge of their muddy holes.   Ansel could not wait to get back to the car.