CostaRicapartIII–ArenalVolcano9-12Nov.2014Sunday 9 Nov – Drive from Manuel Antonio to Arenal

We left Costa Verde Hotel in Manuel Antonio before noon on Sunday 9 Nov, and droveto the vicinity of the Arenal Volcano, first north along the Pacific coast. We ate lunch at a typicalCosta Rican eatery, more or less the equivalent of an American diner, located on a tidal estuarynot far from the Pacific coast. Sitting outside, we watched birds cruising above and occasionallydiving for food in the river, as well as iguanas waiting for a handout.

We then drove inland to intersect the Arenal Lake on its south shore near the west end,drove around the west end and then east on the north side to the east end, then followed a dirtroad south for almost an hour, to the Nepethene B&B, which we booked via Airbnb. The last bitwas a steep uphill rocky drive, which Edie managed in the dark with our 4WD vehicle. Wecooked up a vegi stew for supper.

The first guests we met at Nepethene B&B. Mr. Frog was in the swimming pool.

Monday 10 Nov: climbing Cerro Chato Volcano and meeting interestingpeople at the B&B.

Monday morning we awoke to find what a beautiful location this B&B had, overlookingthe Arenal lake and a great view of the Arenal Volcano (at least in principle, because thevolcano was largely enveloped with clouds). We were quartered in a separate “cabina” whichhad an en-suite bath, and a kitchenette (with scanty equipment) and a patio with a great view ofArenal Lake. After a tasty pancake breakfast with fried plantains and fresh fruit provided by theB&B, we met the owner, Gordon, a retired civil engineer and road construction contractor fromCalifornia, who invited us for drinks at sunset.

Thereafter we set off for the Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge, which maintains asystem of trails. We hiked up the Cerro Chato Volcano which was steep, strenuous, and difficult.All the other hikers we encountered were half our age, or less! After arriving at the crater rim, wedescended an even steeper trail to the shore of the crater lake where we had a picnic lunch. Atone point on the descent, Ray lamented having forgotten the first aid kit, whereupon Edie said,stop worrying about it, we don’t have anything for broken limbs! But with a bit of tree huggingalong the way, we managed, actually quite well. We then retraced out steps to the rim, fromwhere we could only glance at the nearby Arenal Volcano through the foliage, fog, and clouds.After descending from the volcano, we followed a lovely circular route over a swinging bridgeand past a waterfall to our starting point.

Figure 1. View of Arenal Volcano from Nepthene B&B

Figure 2. View of Arenal Lake from Nepethene B&B.

Figure 3. This guy gets a bird's eye view of both!

Figure 4. View from Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge.

Figure 5. Edie at the beginning of the trail up Cerro Chato.

Figure 6. Cerro Chato Crater Lake

Figure 7. View of Arenal from the foot of Cerro Chato

We arrived in time for sunset drinks at Gordon’s house, above the B&B. He and his wifehappened to see a “for sale” sign on this property during an ATV trip in the area 13 years ago,fell in love with the location, and purchased it, and built a vacation house. Hotel owners in thevillage requested that they take overflow guests, and hence they started operating a B&B withlocal staff, and eventually expanding, and building themselves a separate house giving themmore privacy. We continued our discussion over dinner at the on-site restaurant together with ayoung couple from Toronto, Ryan and Rebecca, who run the restaurant. Ryan is a rock musicperformer, and won the Canadian Idol competition. We had a great meal and reserved for thefollowing evening as well.

Tuesday 11 November – Volcan Arenal National ParkAfter yesterday’s grueling trek, we opted for an easier hike, mostly on level ground,

leading to the lava flow from the 1992 eruption of the Arenal Volcano. We were surprised to seethe ground covered with separate dark colored rocks, rather than a solid rock surface. Ironically,we had a great view of the volcano, whose peak was only occasionally obscured by clouds. Aswe watched carefully, we saw that one particular spot at the summit seemed to be the source ofpart of the cloud – i.e. although Arenal hasn’t erupted in 3 years, it still seems to be blowing offsteam.

Volcanic rock from the edge of the lava field.

Figure 8 Steam blowing off near top of Arenal

From the lava field we followed the trail along a circular path past “El Ceibo”, anenormous 400 year old tree with huge buttress roots. We saw countless lizards scurrying infront of us, with a very pretty yellow and green dotted back, as well as a coati rooting in theground and many interesting birds and butterflies. We returned to our car after noon, picked upour picnic lunch, and took another path to another Arenal lookout point. A flock of blue magpiejays was darting about, waiting for the remains of our lunch.

Coati

Roots

Super-roots --El Ceibo

Butterfly on Edie's shirt

Find the ant train

White-throated Magpie Jay

We returned to the B&B mid-afternoon, to swim, sit in the hot-tub, and observe thesunset from our patio with a cold beer in hand. We had a great dinner at the restaurant, this timecooked by Rebecca. Ryan chatted with us, and invited us to join him in the morning to watchbirds from the restaurant veranda.

Wed 12 Nov – return to San JoseWe joined Ryan on the veranda of his restaurant at 0600 to watch the procession of

birds flying by at a distance, including a few toucans, had breakfast, caught up on e-mail, swam,and sat in the hot-tub (what a lazy morning!) before packing up and driving back to Alajuela,near the San Jose airport, pausing on the way out to look at a howler monkey and a fewchestnut billed toucans in the trees along the access road.

Bird watching from the resturant with Ryan

Farewell from a howler monkey

On the way we stopped at a ‘typical’ tico eatery for lunch, overlooking a 1-lanesuspension bridge, and at two towns. In Zarcero we explored the fanciful topiary in the park infront of the church, while in Sarchi we looked at the giant ox-cart, a memorial to the onceflourishing ox-cart industry which has evolved into many furniture workshops.

Ray felt right at home with his two colleagues, and certainly well protected.

Paul Bunyan's oxcart? – in Sarchi

Our hotel was across the street from the apartment of Waleska, who organized Edie’sconference. We dined with them at an excellent nearby restaurant (Ray’s best meal in CR!), andhad an opportunity to thank her and her husband Arturo who worked so hard on the conference.We hit the sack not early enough to arise at 0345, in order to return our car and board our 0700flight to Newark.

13-17 November – visit in S. JerseyFlight was OK except we are annoyed at United who charged for our checked bags (the

ticket said baggage allowance: 1 pc). Traveled from Newark airport to Hamilton NJ by train,where brother-in-law Dick picked us up in his big old Lincoln (no trouble fitting in the suitcases!),and took us to Ray’s niece Gail’s house in Collingswood NJ where we stayed. We were greetedby spectacular fall foliage! Thursday night we met our friend Yael Golton at Israeli folk dancingat the huge Adath Israel synagogue in Merion. ( We spent almost as much time looking for theright room with 3 other functions going on as in driving over). Friday morning Ray visited hiscolleagues at the Drexel Plasma Institute in Camden, and in the afternoon we both shopped.

Saturday and Sunday were earmarked for cultural activities, and specifically visits tomuseums which hadn’t seen during our many sojourns and visit in the Philadelphia area. OnSaturday we and Gail visited the Barnes Institute, with its impressive collection of impressionistand post-impressionist art (particularly Renoir and and Cezanne). And on Sunday our great-niece Mara accompanied us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (remember “Rocky”?), where weconcentrated on a special exhibition on Paul Strand, an important 20th century photographerand native of Philadelphia, and on early American crafts, art, and artists, in particular Eakins.And we had a great Vietnamese meal Saturday night, as well as Sunday morning lox andbagels with Ray’s sister Marlene.

We left NJ in the midst of a significant rain storm, to arrive in Israel after a terribleterrorist storm in Jerusalem. Today (Tuesday) we did some grocery shopping and swimming,

are finishing the blog, and hope to sleep at some reasonable hour to begin the working daywithout jet leg (LOL).

All the best to you…….Ray and Edie

Fall foliage in Collingswood NJ - across the street from Gail's house.