I Love Volcanos

The central spine of Costa Rica is a mountain range made up of a string of volcanos. The most recently active one is Arenal, about 3 1/2 hours drive north of Atenas.  I am fascinated by demonstrations of Mother Nature's power, and the reminder of our insignificance in comparison.  So the Turk and I hopped in out travelmobile and headed north to explore the Arenal area including the volcano, cloud/rain forest, hot springs.

Arenal has 2 cones -you can see old one on right, new on left

Arenal was dormant since approximately 1500 AD, until 1968 when it erupted, killing 87 people. Through the years ending in 2010, there has been visible volcanic activity, with several more deaths as a result.  Today, even with the volcano considered dormant again, people are not allowed on the mountain.

Heliconia

 The Turk and I stayed at Arenal Observatory Lodge, a former dairy and macadamia nut farm that converted to housing for the scientific community who moved to the area to study the volcano since it is only 1.7 miles from the volcano. 

view from hot tub

our room overlooking Lake Arenal

A surprise on our bed

Note that the prevailing winds and location of the modern day eruptions determined this area to be safe while the volcano was active. Today, you can see some of the monitoring equipment still set up in the observatory tower.  The Turk and I passed a heavy duty vehicle near the lodge that was marked as being a Swiss research vehicle.  With the 8.1 earthquake in Chili and 6 ft tsunami the day we returned, its clear that lots is still going on under the topsoil.

We were told that you can see the volcano peak only 25 days a year, and it was visible for us all three days.  We could even see the smoke - though likely it is steam from water hitting the lava within the mountain.

Smoke coming from the new cone

The grounds of the observatory are beautiful with planted tropical plants and trees - looking much like Hawaii with heliconas,  gingers, orchids, palms and very low grass.

Bromeliad

Swinging bridge! no jumping allowed - but that didnt stop the Turk

River down the steep climb from hotel - first leg of the 'Old lava flow' trail

Cerro Chato in distance

We hiked them all,

More swinging bridges

View of Arenal from dairy farm on the hotel property

Breadfruit

Cowled Oriole

Hummingbird outside of our room

including the 2 very difficult ones: Old Lava Flow-which is actually just to the river since the rest of the trail is now closed, Cerro Chato - a hike up a neighboring, and older, dormant volcano.  Both of these hikes required arms, legs, walking sticks and endurance.  And my new knee -10 mos old - weathered it all without a hitch.  We climbed Cerro Chato to the peak where we could see the water-filled cone.

Easy part of the trail to Cerro Chato volcano

Vertical part of Cerro Chato trail

Reward! Water filled volcanic cone

Stomachs were growling so we got in our travelmobile and headed to El Castillo, the nearby town on lake Arenal - largest lake in Costa Rica.  It is man made and provides water and electricity  to the Guantacesta region.

Lake Arenal from hotel

The bumpy dirt road ends past El Castillo and you can continue on only on foot, or by horse. But we were headed for John's Pizza!  The Turk is very picky about his pizza and requires think crust, fresh ingredients. And we found it here. The sign for John's Pizza is about 6 x 10 inches on the side of the road indicating you should turn down an alley. We found a dilapidated structure, with a pizza oven, and knew we were in the right spot.  John, formerly from Los Angeles CA, died last summer.  But his wife continues the business and the pizza was perfect!

Happy Turk - beer and pizza

Signing the wall at John's Pizza

What better way to recover from a 4 1/2 hour hike than to immerse yourself in the hot springs!  We headed for Eco Termales, a smaller springs that has 3 pools of progressively hotter water leading to the source. We went in the evening and the Turk was in heaven.  He really hates to be in cold water - anything cooler than 85 degrees is cold to him. We floated around each of the pools, cooling off a bit in the waterfall pool - at least I did. It was too 'cold' for the Turk.

Eco Termales entrance - low key compared with the others

2nd pool looking toward 3rd pool

This is hottest pool, starting with hot tub at top. Hot water runs into lower pool which is a bit less hot, then a 3rd pool that is just...hot.  Next to lowest pool is a small pool with waterfall and cool water.

Our room was half of a duplex with large porches facing Lake Arenal. We woke each morning to the sound of birds and cool breeze. In the morning, we hiked uphill to the restaurant deck overlooking the volcano to watch the morning birds, coatis and critters foraging for their breakfasts - until we could get in to get ours.  A Tico breakfast! Beans and rice, eggs, fruit - pineapple, mango, watermelon, cantalope - and french fried bread fruit. This definitely held us over during our morning hikes looking for creatures.

Montezuma Oropendolas eating watermelon and papaya

Montezumas' homes - new ones are built each year. Females can reject what the male has built and the male has to build a new one. 

flycatchers

Coati - like a raccoon

Each evening, we were witness to amazing sunsets over Lake Arenal to the west-obviously.

Alas, it was time to head back to Atenas. The Turk is getting used to the twisty, narrow roads which are considered main roads, and even complains less about the pot-holed dirt roads that we often have to drive for almost an hour to get somewhere - including to the Observatory Lodge.

Soon out of Arenal, we saw Coco Loco and had to visit.  Its a gallery run by a German  woman who is an artist, and who sells her own and other artists' work.  What a find!

Turned wood bowl with resin/metal and different types of wood pieces

Masks that show animal faces, but also birds and flowers. Love these!

mirrors on wood with metal/resin highlights

We got to pass through the Angeles rain forest area where the road was less windy and the vistas were gorgeous looking across hills of cow pastures and farms. There were - as usual - many roadside sodas (very small diners) and food stands.  We stopped at one to discover home made coconut cookies - my new fave - and a traditional milk, sugar sweet thingy. Not sure its my favorite.Grand Prix from Malaysia was on TV so we watched a  bit.

farmland in cloud country, with greenhouses lined up

Malyasian Grand Prix, and motorcycle sitting next to our table at the soda

Lots of one lane bridges, but this one had style

Horses On Parade

Each spring, Atenas has its Topes - horse parade.  This is a big deal as ranchers from the canton drive their horses into town via their blue and white farm trucks, and saddle up to prance up and down the streets, amongst the regular car and motorcycle traffic.  Their destination was eventually to get to the old folks home where there was some sort of blessing.  I was told that this was a fund raiser for the home and since I saw each rider had a number pinned on their back, there might have been a parade fee that they paid.

This area has many fincas (farms and ranches) with cattle and horses. Its not unusual to see someone riding into town. With the condition of many of the roads, the horse seems like a preferable mode of transportation.
The cowboys are dressed much as you'd see in the US. Their cowboy hats are a bit wider, but they mostly wear jeans, boots, and plaid long sleeved shirts. Some had intricate embroidery on their shirts which showed me that this was a special day for them.

This parade was an all afternoon affair with no real organization that I could discern.  Horses and their riders were typically in groups of what appeared to be family or friends.  As the afternoon turned to evening, more and more riders were carrying 'beverages' to sustain them as they headed through town to the old folks home.  I was amazed at the prancing by each and every horse that made them seem so elegant.

Now I'm in the parade!

Maybe it was my enthusiam? But one of the riders stopped and asked me if I wanted to ride in the parade.  Of course this was all in Spanish and I wasnt sure what was going on, but the Tico's standing next to us yelled 'SI' and waved me toward the horse as the rider jumped off.  So, here I am saddling up for my participation in the Tope!

We had been seeing oxcarts with oxen/cows around town the past couple of days, but for some reason, I didnt have my camera.  Sunday morning (after the Saturday Tope), I heard a clop clop on the hilly dirt/gravel road outside of our house.  I jumped up to see - a beautifully painted ox cart carrying a young girl and going up the hill.  When I waived with my camera in hand, they stopped so I could take a picture.  While the cart, and in fact the cows, were beautiful - riding in that cart didnt look very comfortable.  After all, these carts were originally used to carry coffee beans into town..

Monkey Turk

We all know the Turk is wild about picking, catching, growing his own food. I am happy to oblige his interests.  Here in Costa Rica, there are a number of fruit trees on the property and one by one, the turk has come in the door with abundant harvests including lemons, limes, bananas.  There has been one fruit that has eluded him until today - the mango. 

We have a large mango tree with only about 8 mangoes left on it.  They are clearly still on the tree because only a monkey could reach them....until the turk arrived.   Today was the day that monkey-turk was going to harvest mangoes.

the Turk, on a mission

I documented the expedition and had to supply the instrument of harvest - the pool net used to collect the leaves floating on top of the pool.  The turk scampered up the tree and I handed him his 'picker', which  is really just a 'hitter' because he swung it into the mango stems until the stems broke and mangoes rained from the tree.

no, that is not a redpanted bird in the mango tree

I dodged what was certainly a potential concussion by running out of the way, despite the turk yelling for me to catch each mango by hand. As a result, we have 5 mangoes, 3 of which have split.  Undaunted, the turk marched triumphantly back to the house with his bounty having conquered yet another unsuspecting fruit tree.

the long blue arm of the turk

Chocolate!

The travelmobile took us to a small town northeast of San Jose where Sibu Chocolate has their headquarters.  The Turk and I signed up for a tasting hoping to find out more about Sibu and chocolate in Costa Rica.

Cocao pods, chilis, cocao beans

The co-owner of Sibu greeted us when we finally found their location - see previous blog entry of driving around like drunken sailors.  Come to find out, Julio's family was the first Turk family to move to Costa Rica around 1918. At that point, they were actually Ottomans since there was no Turkey, and they were in fact Jewish Ottomans.  He said that now there are a number of Turks living in CR.

Turk finds favorite thing - wood oven

Julio is an historian and worked for National Geographic in central america doing research and lecturing. So he was comfortable being our chocolate lecturer as he described the ancient history of chocolate and how Costa Rica gave up their indigenous foods like cocoa for european foods like coffee because of the influx of europeans and their businesses.

Cocoa bean, Sibu chcolates to taste!

Julio demo'ing ancient chocolate drinking cup

Sibu, named for an ancient god, has a mission to bring back the cocoa origins of Costa Rica through their chocolate. This is mainly through their bonbons where they mix herbs, spices for unique flavors.
The grounds of this artisanal chocolate maker were beautiful and they had a restaurant that made tasty, healthy foods. We shared their soup - smoked pumpkin, green salad and sandwich of handmade sausage and hummus with peppers.  It was delicious, though slightly needing more seasoning as is typical in CR.

Overall, it was an interesting experience, but not worth the $25 each that we paid to hear Julio's history of chocolate and taste five of their chocolates. We were not shown any chocolate being made and it appears that the cocoa beans are processed elsewhere, not on site.  The cocoa plants are grown on the east side of the country where the weather is a bit warmer. We did stumble upon a window overlooking a work area where it appeared that a woman was making chocolates, but the view was somewhat blocked. 

Zippy Day

 Yup, we did the obligatory zip line experience in Costa Rica.  Did you know that the current type of ziplining started right here in Monteverde in the 1990's?! This mode of transportation was originated many years ago to address needed travel between hard to reach areas, including in Costa Rica. 

The Turk and I chose Sky Trek for our experience and we recommend it. Professionally done and the guys were great.
9 ziplines including 2 tandam runs - which the Turk liked because he got to wrap his legs around my waist and tell me to keep still - kept us busy all morning.  A full 1.7 miles of zipping, lines ranging from 328ft to the longest at 2460 ft (over half a mile).  It was very windy and I thought - no way are they going to allow ziplining today.  Alas, they cancel only when winds are over 74 mph.  Remember, 75 mpg = hurricane!

What is Missy getting me into

Suited up

Trip up to the top

Incoming!

Within the canopy, seeing the ecosystem of just 1 tree

This is FUN

Zippy Turk

Zipping over the canopy

One more zip to go and I'll be done

View on our trip back to Atenas

We hopped back into our miniature 4 wheeler and headed back to Atenas. The views along the way were beautiful, despite it being dry season below the rain forest and much of what we saw was brown. We stopped along with way for a picnic, complete with fresh bread from Stella's bakery and cheese - both local from Monteverde.

Cloudy With Animals

 Monteverde is one of the cloud forests located in north central CR, south of Lake Arenal.  It became 'known' in 1983 when National Geographic did a feature article on this unique area and the observation that this was a key location to see the 'resplendent quetzal'. (a bird). And my family has that issue, I know they do. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve has over 100 species of mammals, over 400 of birds, 120 of amphibians and reptiles, over 3000 of plants including the largest variety of orchids in the world - over 500 species.!

Quetzal - you cant see the looong blue tail.

The Turk and I jumped in our travelmobile and headed northwest. We had been warned, as is everyone, that the last hour of the drive to Monteverde is over unpaved, rugged, windy road that will jar your brain.  The rental car companies especially love this road because that  is how they rent their 4 wheel drives.

The 3 1/2 hr trip took longer than that of course. The dirt (or as one website says 'dirty' road) was torturous. Mark handled it well but noted that his left arm was sore from holding the steering wheel to maneuver around the holes/rocks/dips.

We are doing pretty well with the major roads, but once we get to the location and need to find the: hotel, office, park, etc. we circle like drunk sailors. And this of course happened when we tried to find our hotel.  Not sure this is a real teachable moment because I seem to be missing the directional cells in my brain. And this must be contagious because the Turk has developed the same deficiency.  Be assured, we did not sleep on the street and finally got to our hotel. One look at us and Jose, the owner had us sit down to relax. He brought out coffee and tea and talked gently until our rattled nerves were calmed. Thank you Jose!

Notice the varieties of wood in ceiling and wall and door of our room. The woods of Costa Rica are beautiful and used extensively

This is why its called 'Cloud Forest'

Hiking along

unusual rain forest creature

The cloud forest area was settled by Quakers, from ALABAMA, during the Korean War.  As religious pacifists, they were initially jailed for refusing the draft. Once they were released, they gathered family and friends and drove...yes drove back in 1949 with those roads, to Costa Rica. Monteverde specifically.  They set up dairy farms and settled the area.  Then they started to realize the importance of their location and they began to preserve the land in the cloud forests.  And that is why we have them today.  The country of Cost Rica has added more preserved areas and today, more than half of Costa Rica land is preserved. 

Our first objective?  Find animals.  Our guide Christian grew up in the cloud forests and learned what plants he could eat, how the animals behaved (when we wasnt shooting them with his slingshot), and how the forest behaved.  He made sure we got photos of the key birds we saw on our hike. I dont remember all the names - but they were quite colorful!  We also saw the Costa Rican version of raccoon called a coati.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nosed_Coati   And one of our favorite things - hummingbirds - were everywhere.  We even got to have hummingbirds land on our fingers. They tickle because they are flapping their wings so fast.

Some kind of Tanager

Mark gets tickeled

 

2 legged visitor critters

Giants next to giant tree

Old growth tree covered in fig tree

  After hiking for 5 hours, we decided we should get back into town and have some local ice cream.  Remember those Quakers had dairy farms, and with dairy farms comes.....ICE CREAM.  So we tried the Monteverde brand at the local ice cream shop and it was quite delicious.  I didnt even try chocolate because I wanted to taste the cream - and taste I did. YUM!  

Then we had to check out the Don Juan cafe.  Don Juan is a Costa Rican company that processes coffees and ...chocolate!   I found half kilo packages of chocolate but none said the level of cocoa.  I saw numbers like 117, 118, 111 and thought these might be important. Indeed they are.  I found out that the lower the number means darker chocolate.  I asked the clerk for the darkest and found out that was 100.   I want 100!  Alas, no 100.  So, the clerk kindly called the local office (on top of the rain forest mind you) and they sent a deliveryman with my dark chocolate 'bar'.  Yes he thought I was a little crazy, but kindly posed for this pic.  Costa Ricans (ticos) are so nice.

Don Juan delivery man

We rested up to be ready for our Night Walk in another cloud forest.  What can you see at night? Not much unless you have a guide with a really strong flashlight and knowledge of where the animals and insects might be.  There is a whole different thing going on at night and we got a glimpse of it.  We saw a two toed sloth hanging upside down from a tree branch. Found out that he was scratching himself because sloths are home to thousands of bugs, including some that live ONLY on sloths. Dont want a pet sloth.   Also seen: 2 varieties of toucans - hide their heads when they sleep, a giant bright green viper wrapped around and hanging from a branch, red kneed tarantula that our guide teased out of its hole, golden beetle that is worth $200 in the insect market because it looks like gold...really.  My good camera had a dead battery, so I was able to capture only a couple of critters in pictures.

Golden beatle

Leaf bug