Saturday, March 4
travelled by boat across Lake Arena, then 2 and a half hours by jeep across the mountains to Monteverde. Breathtaking views, but what a ride! "Jeep" seems to mean "very bumpy road" because the vehicles used were actual tourista vans. Pretty scary dirt roads along very steep mountainsides.

Arrived in Monteverde about 5 pm and began looking for a place to stay -- didn't make advance reservations so it was take your chances.First hotel was very expensive, and only one room available, but - Found very nice little cabanas for $15/ea - double bed, very clean with hot showers. No tv or internet. Online cafes are everywhere here for about $4/hour so getting online is fairly easy.


We have decided to stay here for two nights, since it is so inexpensive. I would like to take the cable car, or do the skywalk through the cloud forest, but Phil & Judy want to just wander, so we may split up tomorrow for a bit.

Hiked with Phil 4 Km to the Jungle Waterfall at La Fortuna! Uphill, quite steep, then down 600 meters of stair steps through the jungle and back up. Yikes! what a trek! But worth every step. We made it back to our cabanas at Rocca Negra in time for a quick shower before being picked up for a "Lava Viewing" after dark.

Travelled by van to a remote spot where we could stand by the road and wait for lava eruptions about every 15 - 20 minutes. The roar was impressive, and the bursts from the volcano quite visible in spite of the cloud cover. This is a very active volcano - had a major eruption in 2000 which killed several people and destroyed an entire village in 1968. It has since been isolated as a natural park reservation and access is strictly controlled, but you can hike up parts of it on the side that does not have active lava streams.