Goodbye jungle Hello volcano!

We woke up to the most glorious day in MV!!! It really was beautiful. Sunny, light breeze and warm. We ate breakfast, again with the family of monkeys and got some great new shots! Decided to check out the cheese factory, and so glad that i did!! It was cool watching them work from an observation room. They had two oxen pulling a cart outside, to a tanker truck. They had a huge case full of different cheeses, almost any kind you can imagine, including ham and cheese mixed (odd) and chocolate cheese. Now, I am a chocoholic, mind you, but that just sounds wrong!!! They have ice cream and caramels, which I was told must be tried. So 8 am i had macadamia nut ice cream, with local macadamias. It was worth every moment!

before I forget, this keyboard is a bit off and the apostrophe cannot be reached. I see the key, but cannot do it with alt, control, great alt, etc. So, if you get some funky symbols, my apologies!!!

I bought some caramels, dulce de leche (caramel sauce) and we headed out to check out an art studio that we drove past several times. I{m SO glad we did!!! The artist, Marco Tulio was really a cool guy with crazy big curly hair, and his 1 year 1 month old daughter was just beautiful! Nalia was shy but very friendly. I found it interesting that she was reading a book in hebrew, b ut didn{t ask about it. The artwork was wonderful and a mix of sculptures in many media and paintings. I took some pics and several of the sculptures I was considering how I{d fit in my suitcase! He was a really nice man, curious and between his broken english and my spanglish we were able to do ok. He was very interesting. He admired my journal and said that he cannot get any like that and showed me what he has. It{s all made of banana paper I believe. I offered him mine for a trade.. as long as i have something to write on, i don{t mind, but he wouldn{t accept it. I was afraid it would be rude to push so i didn{t, but I did leave him a tip in his jar for his time and for opening for us. It was one of those moments when its really wonderful to meet someone from another culture and have that click. He showed me some beautiful sketches he did as well.

the drive out from MV was every bit as bumpy as the ride in, and longer. Some areas were so pitted that we had to cross to the other side, and sometimes even off the road! Some areas had fresh soil filling the holes which was really nice, but few! The road rule defininely is whomever is there first, and whomever is more aggressive goes! It takes a lot of concentration driving on these roads. For the most part the roads are completely unmarked, leaving the driver to guess which way to go. The maps show some forks, but not most.

We came across two loose horses and as we crossed the turn, a loose dog following. Hmmm.. I was hoping a rider was nearby and sure enough one followed a moment later on a horse. there were many cows outside the fences eating by the side of the road, and quite a few loose dogs. The drive was gorgous! the terrain went from jungle in MV to a patchwork of sloping hills covered in farmland, with crops, and horses and cows grazing. It{s really beautiful. The sky was a bright blue and filled with big puffy white clouds. It{s warm today, almost hot but with a breeze very nice. A bit humid, but again not bad at all.

This area is some of the best 4 wheeling I{ve ever done!!! We got to a town called Tilaran and back on pavement we drove. Yay! We lost the path to Arenal following several forks, and decided to stop in town for a drink, bio break and directions. We stopped in a cafe and got two milkshakes, and met Jeff, a wonderful man from Texas who [gave it all up[----no idea where quotes are on this keyboard!! and moved down there. He used to do business in CR and when the market in the US crashed and he lost a lot, he decided to make a huge change. He said there are around 150 americans in the area, and all are very concerned about the US economy impact. He said tourism is down over 40%, so Sandy, be sure to bargain, esp on hotel!!! He lived there for four months and really loves it. Something to aspire to!

We got back on the road fortfied and with directions and soon came to lake arenal. It{s a beautiful shade of blue and just gorgeous. There are windmills in several areas around it, interesingly, that had to be turned off for a few days due to the storm. The winds were too great even for them! The long windy road around the lake seemed to take forever, but then we caught sight of the Arenal volcano. wow.. it{s HUGE and just amazing. This volcano is live and does have lava flows, so it cannot be hiked. Amazingly in the US I{m sure we would not allow building so close to the volcano, but here it{s done. A town that i believe was called Tabacon was destroyed in the last century due to the lava. The people we spoke with in MV said that in three days they saw no lava, and no volcano as it was obscured by the thick clouds. Here it{s just beautiful!! The volcano was obscured for a bit at the top, but there are great views to be seen.

We came to our hotel which can only be described as paradise. Eliomar checked us in, the same angel who helped me with my booking problem. i won{t go into that here, but suffice it to say that i will never, ever use hotels.com again, and would very much discourage anyone from using it! happy to provide details if you{d like. Done with my rant.. the grounds here are simply gorgeous. Flowers and plants of every kind and color, and beautiful wood cabins spaced well from each other. Pool, and --sound of angels singing-- a hot spring in the back. We checked in, changed into bathing suits and marched right on back there. Past the duck pond and the pool and a row of bird of paradise flowers to the hot spring, complete with a little waterfall. OMG, this is a slice of heaven. Oh, and right near a bar (and no Jason, contrary to what you may expect i did NOT drink!!) We soaked in the spring, laid out on the teakwood loungers and just relaxed. Heaven. Eliomar had given us a map and told us where the restaurants i found are, and made a few recommendations. So, we just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather! There are horses on a property next door. The only negative I see is the monstrosity of a hotel next door. It{s hideous and huge and just out of place!! C{est la vie.

We have a perfect view of the volcano from our window. Our room is very nice with a tile floor, a bathroom you could fit 200 of your closest friends in, high wood ceilings. Well appointed and not fancy, but incredibly nice. I would so recommend this place!!

We are headed into La Fortuna shortly to explore, then get dinner at a place-forget the name- but it{s CR tipica. Known for their rotisserie chicken, and people just seem to rave about it. Sandy, I{ll get the name typed in later. I{m looking forward to exploring a bit, now that we{ve relaxed from the long ride. It took around 4 hours to get here or a little less, so not as bad as expected. this area is very touristy, so I am very glad i went to Monteverde as well to get the other flavor of CR. One thing that amazes me about this country, which is the size of West Virginia, is how very diverse it is! The different areas are like completely different countries in every way. This area looks nothing at all like MV, and while it{s beautiful, it is littered with hotel after hotel, all with views of the volcano. Beautiful and worth seeing, but very touristy.

I am borrowing Eliomar{s computer, so i may not be able to post again until tomorrow. They do have wireless but I didnt{ bring mind, figuring it wouldn{t be readily available. I know I{m being neurotic but I really need to figure out how to get the apostrophe!! Oh, and one of the hotel guests told me to be sure to get to the restaurant before 7, as they put out a ton of bananas for the birds, and there are at least 20 different kinds. How fun! Oh, and another thing is that Ive seen at least three different kinds of butterflies on the property. Saw a monarch, a yellow one, and a black and yellow. I tried to get one to land on my finger with no luck. Maybe tomorrow!

Adios!!! I{m excited about my horseback ride to the La fortuna waterfall tomorrow... can{t wait!!
Sam