Poas Volcano

 Dec 29  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 292008
 

Poas Volcano is in a cloud forest, so the last half hour or so of the drive is through dense mist.

Once at the volcano we were given the choice of a half mile walk up a fairly flat road from the Visitors’ Center to the crater, or a more interesting hike through the cloud forest to get there. Eric, Kevin and I opted for the hike, and Sarah’s wisdom lead her up the gentler path.

The three guys, having chosen the path less traveled, ended up on a pretty rigorous two mile hike at 8800 feet of altitude, with no acclimating beforehand. Not knowing that half the hike was a pretty steep and steady climb, I blasted out of the gate – regretting that strategy about half a mile later. We got a nice view of a smaller crater up higher, but the main crater was buried in a cloud when we finally arrived there.

In the meantime, Sarah had had a jolly walk to the main crater, seen it in its splendor before the clouds covered it, gave up waiting for us and strolled back to the bus.

Botos Lagoon

Botos Lagoon. This is the small crater up higher than the main one. The view lasted about 2 minutes though a hole in the clouds.

Poas Volcano Crater

Here’s what the main crater looked like: a cloud.

Pictures from our hike through the cloud forest:

Cloud Forest Fungus

Fungus

Cloud Forest Flower

Flowers. Sorry, I don’t know what type they are.

Sombrilla de Pobre

Sombrilla de Pobre, or “poor man’s umbrella,” is the common name for this Costa Rican plant – for obvious reasons.

Jan 012009
 

I got up at 5:20 this morning to take a picture of the sun rising over the Caribbean Sea on the first day of the new year. Sunrises aren’t as dramatic as sunsets, especially when the sky is completely clouded over. Everything gradually got brighter, but there was no way to see that the sun came over the horizon at 5:50am.

Sunrise on New Year's Morning, Tortuguera, Costa Rica

Sunrise, New Year’s Morning

As I was setting up my camera, another gentleman walked out onto the beach. We smiled at each other and he headed down the beach. Then he stopped, turned around and walked up to me with a big smile and his hand outstretched. We shook hands and he said "I wish you a very happy new year," in a wonderful Northern European accent. I wished him the same, and he turned and walked down the beach.

There was something really moving about the encounter – it was so genuine and sincere on both our parts, standing on this remote beach, that was so different from the typical “Happy New Year” greetings we toss about.

Around 6:30 I got the rest of the family up so we could pack up to continue our journey. The boat left the dock at 8am, and we were looking forward to the hour long boat ride through the river and canals back to the bus. Unfortunately, the sky opened up again dumping enough rain to cause the captain to stop the boat and roll down the plastic window sides. If you’ve ever tried to look though the back window of a convertible you know the kind of view we now had. An hour of humming engine and the occasional banking turn, while blurry trees slide by outside the window.

Paul

Paul, our tour guide, on the boat leaving Tortuguero. It’s New Year’s day, he doesn’t normally look like this! (Sorry Paul!)

The rest of the day was primarily a day of travel to get halfway across Costa Rica to our next stop in Fortuna. The bus ride was broken up with two stops – one for lunch at the same place we ate a couple days ago (delicious! No problem having a repeat), and one at a 300 foot suspension bridge over a river. The second was kind of a novelty stop that was fun to do but mostly broke the trip into segments so we could stretch our legs.

Lunch!

Lunch

Suspension Bridge

On the suspension bridge in the Selva Verde Rainforest Reserve.

090101_1816

Kevin and Eric on the far side of the bridge.

We arrived at the beautiful Lomas de Volcan hotel in Fortuna around 4pm. We traveled about 150 miles today by boat and bus, over about 5 hours of travel time.

Lomas del Volcan

Finally there!

Porch View

The view out the back door of our cottage. We’re looking right at Arenal Volcano, which can’t be seen at the moment due to the clouds.

And here’s two shots of the volcano from right outside our room. These were actually taken the next day, but the flow works better if I put them here. These shots were taken about 20 minutes apart – the view of the cone was always changing. I wish I had set up a time-lapse series.

Arenal Volcano

7:03am

Arenal Volcano

7:24am