Volcano, hot springs, waterfall and a brief illness

Well, we're now in Monteverde after a VERY VERY bumpy ride. The last 2 days in La Fortuna were amazing.

On the 8th, we booked a river raft trip down a slow moving river with a guide. it was sooooo nice - Howler monkeys galore, 2 toed sloth and even a crocodile. The howler monkeys are amazing - they sound just like a gorilla. The sloth - very lazy - sleeping upside down above our heads. They sleep about 16hrs/day and only come to earth once per week to poop!! Imagine!! During our river trip we stopped at an old traditional Costa Rican farm house still inhabited by the original owner - Pedro who is now 94. He lives there with his daughters and their sons. Tey recently got a well with a gasoline pump, but still remain with no electricity and still have a dirt floor. They gave us home cooked bread and fresh cheese to sample.

The remainder of the day was spend on my back sleeping in our cabin as I got sick - fever but nothing else thank god - so unfortunately we missed 1/2 a day. The next day though was fine so off we went to the La Fortuna Waterfalls.

These falls were beautiful - but the water was cold - so we only waded in. After that we went to the Baldi Hot Springfs resort for a rest - WOW - nice place. It's a small and I imagine less elaborate lace than Tabacon, howeveer when were were there - there might have been 12 people there total. The hot poos ranged from 98 to 156 degrees - too hot for us but the others were great - so relaxing!!!

After a few hrs at the hot springs we had a tour of the Volcano Booked - Arenal. Our guide took us into the national park and we hiked to an old lava flow that we could hike across - It was amazing. While were were there, we say more Howler monkeys and some Toucans! Beautiful!! The volcano is one amazing living thing that Mother Nature has created - absolutely beautiful - and definately commands your respect!!

Following this tour we headed back to the hot springs for another 3 hrs and dinner - a great way to relax after a great hike!

The couple that stayed next door to us at Arenal Green - great place by the way - were from Portland Oregan. On their was from the Nicoya Penisnsula, they found an injured dog - chichuaha (spelling???) They took him to the vets and got some shots, etc. To make a long story short, they told us this morning that they are keeping him!!! They have all his shots - back dated - and already checked with the airlines - I gave them our e-mail address to let us know how things go! That's one souvenir they won't forget!!!

This morning we left for a trip around Lake Arenal on way to Monteverde - and as I said - what a road we travelled. Once we left the paved road - we only had 39 kms to go - but that took us 2 hrs as we could not drive any fatsre than 25 km/hr and never got out of second gear!!! Honestly - the roughest road I have ever been on!!!

Our place here in Monteverde is beautiful - a fully equipped cabin with separte living bedroom areas - we booked a tour of the cloud forest for tomorrow with aguide that includes a history walk and canopy bridges - should be exciting.

Well fill you in on our further adventures ina couple of days!!!

Lisa - trust me - I have not forgotten about you and in fact have had several beers in your name - and likely a few more to go!!!

Adios amigos!