It was an early morning, as the equatorial sun rose somewhere close to 5:00am, awakening us for another day in paradise! After breakfast at the lodge, we were off to explore the terrain around Arenal.
Thanks to the excellent advice of the Mathis Family, we began our day with a quick tour of several therapeutic natural hot springs. The geothermal activity here provides a plethora of these thermal aquifers, so we had no trouble finding the "agua caliente". A big thanks to the Mathis' for the good counsel.
By 9:00 we had finished there and were wending our way up into the clouds for an awesome hike on a cooled lava flow on the slopes of the Arenal Volcano. It is the rainy season here, and it is easy to see why every inch of ground is literally teeming with life. The rain began as we ate breakfast this morning, and it was pouring as we began our trek. The trail took us some 1500 vertical feet on the mountain, as we climbed to the top of the flow. This was no bunny trail, and it required a good deal of rock-hopping through wet boulders, testing the agility of your (aging???)humble scribe.
Then it was back in the car for the drive to the coast. We are now on the western, Pacific side of Costa Rica. The nation is part of the Central American isthmus, with coastline on both its eastern and western boundaries. Rising 7th graders: for five bonus points before the year even begins, be the first to look up what sea lies on the eastern coast of the country! E-mail your answer to me at clark.pollitt@kcd.org. The first correct answer wins.
That's about all for now. I need to get to bed early, as we are headed out to Monteverde to do our zip line tour of the cloud forest tomorrow. Hasta Luego! Please remember that we would love to hear any comments or questions you might have.
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