Mornin’ all. Just post-dawn Monday here in the equivalent of US Mountain time. Partly cloudy & about 68/20 by feel.
Started the morning by replying in the old MMP, so here that is for reference:
I’ve updated the folder of pix with new stuff from yesterday.
First up was a sunny scene at breakfast where you can finally see some steam coming off the peak against a clear blue sky. Overall the day was humid, and by turns blue, gray, drizzling or raining. The folks from the PNW and England would be right at home except for the 75-80F/25-28C temps.
First stop was La Fortuna Waterfall - Arenal Volcano. It was raining and misty when we got there but improved. There is one of my pix that appears to be all gray. On close inspection, the waterfall is in the lower center just barely visible through the clouds. There’s an “after” picture from the same POV but with more zoom once the weather cleared out. It’s about 500 stair steps and several ramps down to the base of the falls. Getting back up was work for this old guy. Legs fine, but huffing & puffing like a steam engine.
Next stop was about halfway around the mountain on the other side for a 5km hike on an 50yo lava flow. Also pretty strenuous. Very little level and lots of it climbing or descending “stairs” of rocks or tree roots and dirt. Fortunately the ground was dry enough it wasn’t muddy, just wet. But saw cool birds, a couple of neat vistas, and a leafcutter trail in the sunshine so I took a vid. The leaves they’re carrying are about the size of an adult thumbnail.
[marker for more adventures to be explained later]
Ended up at Hotel Laguna Arenal for the overnight. That really is the view from all 6 bungalows. Very euro-modern place. The operator is Dutch. Been here 10 years. Retired from KLM, the Dutch national airline, as an instructor in their aircraft mechanic department. Now spends some evenings teaching the same online for Lufthansa. A small world.
Final stop after a short hike down the road in the drizzle was a Mom-n-Pop roadside eatery. Along the way we saw that toad under a walkway light at our hotel. That’s a cane toad, and about 8" nose to tail. Once inside we found a 50ish dude playing guitar and singing, a couple of extended families eating & listening, a couple of dogs underfoot, and us. People were sweet, food was good, beer was cold. A fine capper to the trip. Walked back in the slowly increasing rain & got home just before it really opened up.
Now gotta hit [send], get clean, dressed, packed, fed, and on the road back to civilization. And Her Ladyship.
Cheers all!