| We ate a 7:30 breakfast at a restaurant two blocks from our hotel.
By 9:00 we were on the bus, heading northeast out of town to Arenal Reservoir.
About 1 km beyond the dam, Dani stopped the bus and a family of Coatis
appeared from the Rain Forest. We fed them bananas for about 10 minutes
before heading back across the dam to one of the Volcán Arenal vista
points. The hike to the lava flow was easy and lasted about 30 minutes.
We made numerous stops to look at flowers, plants, insects, birds, and
spider monkeys.
We climbed up onto the lava flow. It is less than 10 years old
and appears to be a basaltic andesite. I took a sample for the Brevard
collection. The top of the volcano was obscured in the clouds so we sat
and waited for something to happen. A group from Southern Nazerene
University in Oklahoma City, sat about 30 m away. We waited about
an hour and a half but nothing happened. Disappointed, we walked
back to the bus. We were able to enjoy watching a group of spider
monkeys race through the trees 10 m above our heads.
We drove back to Fortuna, stopping at a pizza place for lunch. Several toucans flew by as we sat in the open-air dining area. Afterward, we returned to the hotel and let the students have the afternoon off. We had planned to go to a waterfall but it was raining. Since the trail to the fall was long and steep, we decided to bag it. I went shopping with Sarah C., Sara, and Tami. I looked for a Costa Rican flag without success. The women bought dresses and souvenirs. Naturally, most of the guys were barhopping. Dinner was at a nice open restaurant with a thatch roof on the main square. It was excellent. I had a jalapeño steak, followed by a banana split. Afterward about a dozen of us went to a local bar, which was a dive. After two beers I was ready to call it a night so a few of us left and walked back to the hotel. We talked for awhile and then turned in at 11:00. |
