Monteverde and Volcan Arenal

Greetings once again from Costa Rica, here after a trip through the Monteverde Cloud Forest and to view the eruption of a volcano, the one whose name you can spell.

The cloud forest was interesting, sort of a combi- nation of a rain forest and a temperate forest, in many ways combining the best of both. Though the rain leads to thick, lush foliage with quite a few ferns, many of the trees are covered with moss. The climate was very mild and the threat of a downpour was always there. The climate was a typical Washington/Oregon spring overcast day, but about 10-15 degrees warmer. Also saw a quetzal, though it was facing the other direction.

The night tour was actually more interesting, and we saw quite the assortment of insects, frogs, as well as a sloth and a tarantula. They have a beetle that is solid gold in color, almost like a C3PO version of a regular beetle. The sloth was at quite a distance and barely moved.

From Monteverde we bumped down the hill again, then took a gorgeous scenic drive around Lake Arenal to La Fortuna on our way to Volcan Arenal, one of a number of volcanoes throughout the north-central portion of the country. We saw a treefull of monkeys on the way. The lake is gorgeous.

Volcan Arenal is the one that still spits out rocks of lava, though, which you can see once it gets dark and hear throughout the day. They have a nice observation deck, though as we found out later you can just pull off to the side of the road and watch the same thing. Spectacular, though seeing it from above would be far more impressive.

Next up: Nicaragua and the West Coast