Day Two

7/30/2012

Today was a day of beautiful scenes and further immersion into Costa Rican culture. We checked out of the Vista del Valle Inn and set off with our driver to the Poas Volcano. We saw birds and many new interesting plants of the higher altitudes as we ascended into the overlook of the Poas crater. Looking down, we could see the world’s most acidic lake at the center where pH levels sometimes get lose to 0! Then we went further up to the overlook of the lagoons where the short-of-breath inclines couldn’t even compare to the quadricep-burning decline on the way back. All in all, Poas was beautiful, and the 56 degree cloud forest informed us of the over 300 different micro-climates in the mountainous, West Virginia-sized nation. Afterward, we went to the La Paz Waterfalls and Gardens which were breathtaking to say the least. We began with the buffet after we met out fantastic guide, Gilbert, and continued through the gardens. From holding toucans to seeing venomous snakes to standing right next to a 120 foot gushing waterfall, there was just too much to capture, but like the old adage goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I have everything in pictures. Then, we met up with our driver who was going to take us to our next hotel, Los Lagos in La Fortuna. It was supposed to be three hours; however, we had a few stops. First, after the impressive maneuvering of our driver on the dangerous cliff’s edge roads of Costa Rica, he stopped at a street-side market to give us a taste of the Costa Rican specialty, mamones. They are hot pink fruits with green spiky hairs that look like alien brains but taste like grapes! Delicioso! Then, we got a flat tire, probably from running through pot holes at 60 kph, but it was quickly fixed, while not without the cost of ant bites all over my feet. The 3 hour trip went surprisingly fast despite the short delays, probably due to my fascination with the surroundings which made looking out the window so much more interesting. We stopped at a grocery store in town before bidding our driver farewell and having a marvelous dinner at Hotel Los Lagos. Tomorrow is ziplining down the volcano. I can’t wait!