COSTA RICA
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Arenal Volcano
Maggie and I traveled on horseback from the Monteverde Cloud Forest to the Arenal Volcano.    This was the view of the volcano as we came down the mountain.
Upon arrival in San Jose, Costa Rica and before departing for home, we head north to Grecia where we spend time relaxing at the Vista del Valle coffee plantation, nestled on the side of a mountain 2700 feet above the Rio Grande Canyon
Vista del Valle is a working coffee plantation.  All the food we ate there was grown on the land.  Coffee, beans, tomatoes, bananas, coconuts, canteloupes, papayas, mangoes, oranges and passion fruit are grown here on terraced mountainsides.
Bananas growing at Viste del Valle
ladder leading to a  waterfall near Vista del  Valle
We head north on the Pan American Highway and eventually turn off onto the winding, rocky road  that leads up Monteverde (green mountain).  We are delayed for most of the afternoon by a landslide that has closed the road.  We drive part way back down the mountain to a roadside bar where we spend a couple of hours.  Here we are introduced to the great Costa Rican beer, Imperial.
The road cleared, we are on our way again.  We look back down at the bar as we climb higher on the road to Monteverde.
Monteverde Mountain in the distance, hidden by the clouds
As we climb, the temperature drops considerably.  We leave the lower dry, brown elevations and enter the lush green of the cloud forest.  Black volcanic rock dots the mountainside.
Monteverde was settled by Quakers in 1951 who left the United States to leave behind the constant fear of war as well as an obligation to support continued militarism through paying U. S. taxes.  They chose Costa Rica because it had no standing army as it has none today.  They started the Cheese Factory which still operates today.  They came primarily to farm the land but immediately saw the need to preserve the rare cloud forests that covered the mountains above their farms.  The people living now at Monteverde are all descendants of these original Quakers and the Ticos of the area.  They are warm, friendly, hardworking people.  The village straggles for several miles between the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Santa Elena.  Homes cannot be seen - they are remote. and far from the tiny rock road that winds through the area.
Left:  that's me sailing across the jungle canopy on a zip line.  Right:  we are zipping off the eight story tower that sits at the top of Monteverde.
                   Robin & Maggie
On top of the eight story tower on top of Monteverde.  The
picture does not capture the wind - it was ferocious and we
had to attach our harnesses to the tower as we stood and held on.  In the distance can be seen the Arenal Volcano (our destination by horseback).  This is a rare site as usually the volcano cannot be seen for the cloud cover.  Our usual travel luck, we will get many more clear views of the volcano.
Descending
Sunset over the Golfo de Nicoya on the Pacific  Ocean
Leaving Monteverde for the day long trek to Arenal
cows on the trail
Maggie on the trail
the mud trail could be grueling with the horses often in knee deep mud






fording El Rio Cano Negro,              one of three times
down off the mountain crossing
streams and farmland
                           five miles from the volcano
3:00 a.m. on my birthday !!  watching Arenal erupt - spectacular !!
still spewing in the morning
Queen of the Nile trumpet vine, poisonous
Maggie with one of the many trinities we faced on the trip - this triangle was the emergency evacuation signal
Enjoying Tabacon hot springs, one
         mile from the volcano
a postcard picture very similar to the eruption I saw, my camera did not capture the night time shot
All photos by Robin Lawrence Poses unless otherwise noted.
Photo by Maggie