Another volcano

Since Volcàn Arenal was less dramatic than we had expected, we thought we'd pay a visit to Volcàn Poas, much closer to home. Our guidebook warned that clouds often obscured this region too, but not until after 10 in the morning. We made an early start and arrived at the entrance around 9:30. Poas is currently dormant with the advantage that you can go right up to the edge of the crater. Nonetheless, we duly noted large signs in the parking lot advising all motorists to park facing outwards " in case of emergency evacuation."



A broad paved walk, lined with flourishing tropical plants like gunnera,

 led to a viewing platform where various other tourists lined the railings.

 

But there was lots of room for us too.

It was quite a spectacular sight, with its pale blue lake giving off faint whiffs of sulphurous steam.

I was intrigued by this purple-flowered shrub that was thriving in several places right on the brink.

True to predictions, we had been there less than an hour when the clouds started to drift in. We wound our way slowly back down the steep road and stopped for lunch at a restaurant perched on the hillside.

There were comfortable chairs inside, but we chose to sit on the narrow balcony at a rustic  table and bench made from split logs. It wasn't comfortable at all but it offered a panoramic view of the valley below.

We ordered what was becoming our usual dine-out meal, a casado (translation: married man's lunch - although most menus offer it for dinner too). This is a generous platter that includes rice, beans, salad greens with sliced tomato, fried plantain, and your choice of a piece of beef, chicken or fish. It is cheap, filling and delicious.



We detoured on the way home to visit two small towns, Sarchi and Grecia.

Sarchi lures tourists with numerous shops selling furniture made from local wood, some of it very attractive. There are also workshops making brightly-painted replicas of traditional ox-carts, which can be dismantled, crated and shipped anywhere in North America. I settled for a few photos.

 

 

For those with their own pair of oxen, this one even provided a yoke, balanced carefully across the rim.

Grecia's chief attraction is its red church, built in Belgium entirely of iron and shipped piece by piece across the Atlantic.

It has elegant doors (which were missing from the original shipment and had to be sourced in Holland),

a simple wooden interior made striking by beautiful chandeliers,

and an intricate tiled floor.

Another volcano

Since Volcàn Arenal was less dramatic than we had expected, we thought we'd pay a visit to Volcàn Poas, much closer to home. Our guidebook warned that clouds often obscured this region too, but not until after 10 in the morning. We made an early start and arrived at the entrance around 9:30. Poas is currently dormant with the advantage that you can go right up to the edge of the crater. Nonetheless, we duly noted large signs in the parking lot advising all motorists to park facing outwards " in case of emergency evacuation."

A broad paved walk, lined with flourishing tropical plants like gunnera,

 led to a viewing platform where various other tourists lined the railings.

 

But there was lots of room for us too.

It was quite a spectacular sight, with its pale blue lake giving off faint whiffs of sulphurous steam.

I was intrigued by this purple-flowered shrub that was thriving in several places right on the brink.

True to predictions, we had been there less than an hour when the clouds started to drift in. We wound our way slowly back down the steep road and stopped for lunch at a restaurant perched on the hillside.

There were comfortable chairs inside, but we chose to sit on the narrow balcony at a rustic  table and bench made from split logs. It wasn't comfortable at all but it offered a panoramic view of the valley below.

We ordered what was becoming our usual dine-out meal, a casado (translation: married man's lunch - although most menus offer it for dinner too). This is a generous platter that includes rice, beans, salad greens with sliced tomato, fried plantain, and your choice of a piece of beef, chicken or fish. It is cheap, filling and delicious.

We detoured on the way home to visit two small towns, Sarchi and Grecia.
Sarchi lures tourists with numerous shops selling furniture made from local wood, some of it very attractive. There are also workshops making brightly-painted replicas of traditional ox-carts, which can be dismantled, crated and shipped anywhere in North America. I settled for a few photos.

 

 

For those with their own pair of oxen, this one even provided a yoke, balanced carefully across the rim.

Grecia's chief attraction is its red church, built in Belgium entirely of iron and shipped piece by piece across the Atlantic.

It has elegant doors (which were missing from the original shipment and had to be sourced in Holland),

a simple wooden interior made striking by beautiful chandeliers,

and an intricate tiled floor.

Costa Rica - Return from Arenal

We left the El Castillo the next morning and arrived at the dam whose construction is responsible for the lake below Volcàn Arenal. Avoiding a busload of tourists heading for a fishing expedition, we turned in the other direction to one of Coast Rica's many natural reserves. A trail led us through dense jungle,

and across a total of seven suspension bridges of various lengths and heights,

Some spanned ravines and waterfalls,

 others afforded views over the jungle canopy.

There were other tourists here too. With each suspension bridge limited to a maximum load of 15 persons, we often had to wait for a group to move on before we could cross.

In spite of the warning, we saw no spiders at this bridge,

but we did see some menacing-looking red ants carrying leaves (presumably to line their nests.) They were fast-moving and hard to photograph.

To my disappointment there were few flowers, birds or butterflies, just some lianas with curious, rather suggestive flowers.

In part because of the delays at bridges and steep parts of the trail, it took us most of the morning to complete the circle tour, and most of the afternoon to drive back to our temporary home at Atenas.

Costa Rica - Return from Arenal

We left the El Castillo the next morning and arrived at the dam whose construction is responsible for the lake below Volcàn Arenal. Avoiding a busload of tourists heading for a fishing expedition, we turned in the other direction to one of Coast Rica's many natural reserves. A trail led us through dense jungle,

and across a total of seven suspension bridges of various lengths and heights,

Some spanned ravines and waterfalls,

 others afforded views over the jungle canopy.

There were other tourists here too. With each suspension bridge limited to a maximum load of 15 persons, we often had to wait for a group to move on before we could cross.

In spite of the warning, we saw no spiders at this bridge,

but we did see some menacing-looking red ants carrying leaves (presumably to line their nests.) They were fast-moving and hard to photograph.

To my disappointment there were few flowers, birds or butterflies, just some lianas with curious, rather suggestive flowers.

In part because of the delays at bridges and steep parts of the trail, it took us most of the morning to complete the circle tour, and most of the afternoon to drive back to our temporary home at Atenas.

Costa Rica (continued)

Mid-week we decided to make an overnight trip north to the vicinity of Arenal, famous for its active volcano. Guidebooks spoke of lava flows visible at night, and of molten rocks bounding down the slopes. It sounded exciting.



En route we stopped at a town called Zarcero, noted for the topiary in a park in front of its church.

The most elaborate was a monkey on a motorbike.

Even where the hedges had not been clipped into shapes, designs had been cut into the foliage.

The topiary was certainly more skilled than the sculpture of a local dignitary at the park entrance.

For me this little park turned out to be one of the highlights of our holiday.

The volcano at Arenal, however, turned out to be dormant - no molten rocks or lava trails for us.

  We were not impressed with the noisy, dusty town of La Fortuna, at the base of the volcano, and chose to move on to the hamlet of El Castillo across the adjoining lake. After bumping down an impossibly rutted and potholed road, we found suitable lodging for the night.

The little cabins were definitely no-frills, but clean and quiet, which is all we require.

True to the advertisement, they had a great view of the volcano, although the cone was shrouded in clouds almost all the time.

Despite that, it certainly dominated the landscape. You found yourself ever watchful for one of the brief moments when the clouds parted and you could catch a glimpse of the very top. Michael sat outside and sketched,

while I sprawled on the bed, reading our guidebook, camera ready at my hand. The clouds swirled constantly so getting a clear shot was a challenge. This is the best I could manage.

Later, we took a walk up the steep hill on which our cabins were perched, and found a sign pointing to one of the last remaining kapok trees in the region. I remember having a pillow filled with kapok when I was a child, but I guess that market has been taken over by synthetics. The Costa Ricans moved on to bananas and coffee, and are now switching to African palms for palm oil.

Apart from one other couple, our accommodations were deserted, but that didn't stop the restaurant from serving up a delicious meal. They also had the best - and most powerful - margaritas that we sampled on the entire trip. We sat and sipped before dinner, watching hummingbirds among the flowering shrubs outside. I tried to catch one on film, a fairly futile endeavour. If you look very closely, just to the right of the bottommost yellow flower, you can see a scrap of iridescent green plumage.