Day six, we woke up bright and earlier. We were leaving beautiful Buena Vista lodge and traveling to Arenal Spring Resort, which is located at the base of a live volcano! Yikes! Before we left Buena Vista, Todd and I walked up to the sunset bar one last time to soak in the beautiful views. While up there we got lucky... no not in the way you're thinking... we got lucky and saw some gorgeous birds in the trees.
I don't know the name of this bird but it really was beautiful. It's feathers were green, orange, black, and bright blue. After snapping a picture of this handsome fellow... a friend joined him.
You can see the blue of it's tail feathers a little better in this picture.
Then, wonders of wonders, two Toucans (is it proper to say two Toucans?) landed on the same tree. We were so excited about this we fumbled getting a picture of both and one flew off before we could get them both. At least we got a shot of this gorgeous creature.
On our way to Arenal Spring hotel we stopped to visit a local school close to Buena Vista. One of the purposes for our travel to Costa Rica was to visit this school and deliver a check from donations given by everyone who was traveling along with donations we had collected from other people. This visit was really the highlight of the entire trip. The kids were so dang cute. They were all dressed in their school uniforms with the older kids dressed up to do a traditional dance for us. It was really a special experience to spend time with them.
Cute, Cute, Cute!
The cute kids doing their dance. They all had these crisp, clean white shirts on and the girls had these beautiful long skits. The boys all had nice dark pants and had painted on mustaches and goatees. It was just dang cute and so neat to see their enthusiasm.
See the boys with their mustaches and goatees? Cute huh?
Aren't the kids just adorable?
Now the fun begins. After all the dancing and clapping and smiling, the boys and girls separated and we all got to play together. It was so fun! The boys headed to the soccer field and it was the grade school Costa Rican kids against the high school American kids. The field was muddy and it was hot but that didn't slow them down. It was really fun to watch. In the end the game was tied. They were equally matched.
I hung out with the girls and jumped rope. It was so dang fun! I haven't jumped the rope since grade school. It really wasn't pretty.
Yes, I can get off the ground but it isn't pretty. This little girl in front of me became my little friend. She kept holding my hand and making me jump rope with her. She didn't say anything just kept smiling and making me get in the line to jump rope. Whew! It was hot but it was fun. A great, great memory.
There was a nice big shade tree next to the road, which is where we were jumping rope. I had to take a little break and stand under the tree to catch my breath. A cute little girl came to join me.
Then my hot husband came to join me also.
After our fun times at the school, we headed back on the bus and drove about an hour to our final destination of the day, the Arenal Springs Resort. On our drive to the resort we drove past a beautiful lake with the Arenal volcano in the background. This picture was taken from bus! The smoke at the top is smoke from the volcanic activity... this is a live volcano and we were going to be staying at a resort only three miles away!
A view of the volcano from out hotel.
After settling in our rooms, we headed out again to hike to the base of the volcano. I was really a little spooked by all of this, knowing it's active, but, hey, everyone else was doing it. :-) We drove as close to the base as was allowed then began our hike. We started across this bridge and through the jungle.
This was a serious jungle. Our guide used his lucky machete to hack through the vines and foliage at one time to make a path for us. Here's my hot Tarzan husband swinging on a vine. He seriously is swinging on a vine. Don't you love his face?
So, we make it to the base of the volcano and see this sign (please ignore my strange billowing shirt) warning us that there is no trespassing. Danger! Area of High Volcanic Activity! No Trespassing! What were we doing there? I don't know. I guess enjoying the danger. At this location you can hear the rocks falling down from the top, red, hot, lava rocks that were being pushed from the top of the volcano and falling down the side.
Our view looking away from the volcano.... beautiful.
Our view looking up at the volcano. I wish we had a better camera for this picture. Try as I might I couldn't get a good shot showing the volcano with the red, hot, lava rocks coming out. This is the best I could get. The rocks would be squeezed out the top, like a tube of toothpaste, and come falling down the side. Some of the rocks were large as cars. It was scary to hear the rolling of the rocks but incredible at the same time!
Back safe and sound at our hotel and the end of our sixth day.
1 comment:
I just can't help but be blown away everytime I read what you did down there. So many cool things all in one trip. Beautiful bird pictures. The live volcano must have been amazing. Ah, and the school pictures bring back memories. The uniforms the kids were wearing (with the navy skirt and white shirt) are the ones Nan wore when we first went down there and she was in grade school. We had the ones with the navy bottoms and blue top. I actually wish we had uniforms in the states. They are great.
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