Poas
Arenal
canopy tour
tour
along
too much beer
Resort
inland since it normally differs quite a bit from the
coast. So we rented a car with Liz and Allan from
Slainte and headed for Alajuela, close to San Jose.
There we paid a visit to the Apex factory where the
Apex inflatable dinghies are manufactured. It is an
impressive operation, very clean and all the workers
were using safetyequipment. Since we were offered a
very good price we both decided to purchase new
dinghies.
From Alajuela we drove to Volcan Poas, which is
active but not dangerously so. One can walk right up
to the crater for a great view of the crater lake the
steam escaping the ground. We had an unusually clear
view and a great picture opportunity.
Our next stop was going to be La Fortuna, close to
Volcan Arenal. We had recommendations on where to
stay and which outfitter to use for our planned canopy
tour from a travel agent we met at Playa Hermosa. The
hotel was inexpensive and very clean. We made
reservations for the canopy for the next morning. A
blue sky greated us and we were afforded a
spectacular view of the vulcano. From the stables near
town we rode on mule back for about 45 minutes up
the mountain towards the rain forest. From there we
hiked through the forest to the first platform. A canopy
tour takes you through the rain forest canopy at about
200 feet off the ground. We had a blast seeing the
forest from a bird's eye view.
Horseback riding we discovered several muscles we
had not used in a while so we decided to go an soak in
the hot tubs at the Tabacon resort. It uses hot springs
from the Arenal volcano to feed pools and streams
built in beautiful setting.
The next day we spent driving about 100 miles to
Monteverde on lousy roads, some would really require
a 4WD vehicle but we managed OK with our small
Toyota. On the way we had a coup of coffee at a
Swiss restaurant. This area of Costa Rica looks very
similar to Switzerland except for a few plants that don't
fit the picture.
Monteverde is a cloud forest reserve started by
Quakers in 1951. Since the soil is not good enough to
support agriculture they decided to protect the rain
forest instead. We had an interesting hike with a
biologist guide and saw many species of birds and
other wildlife.
