Molten Hot Magma!

I had little idea of what Lenay and I would be doing for our last weekend in Costa Rica, and for that matter, South America. There had been much speculation over the past week. Would we go to Lake Nicaragua with some Ticas Lenay had met? Victor and some students were planning a trip to Perez Zeledon as well. Even our expatriate friend Nicole was trying to get something going! What Lenay wanted was to speak our second language for our last few days. I was just about having a good time.

That friday night I had walked to the bus station in the pouring rain (don't worry I was wearing a poncho) to meet up with some friends at El Avión (A restaurant centered around a hollowed out B-17). I had left some clothes at a friends two weeks earlier and was trying to tie up all of my loose ends. I ran in to my friends Seth and Ashley, who were coincidentally about to hop on the 8 o'clock Manuel Antonio bus. Offhandedly I mentioned making a road trip to them, without any real expectations. 'Think about it,' I said, and left it at that.

8 Am the next morning I am walking to Lenay's house to make sure she is almost packed. She lives only two blocks away so the walk was short. Nearing here house, I notice she is getting into a sedan with some gringos. 'Lenay! Lenay! A donde vas???' Everone in the car turns toward me and I realize: Seth, Ashley, and Jared (Lenay's roomie) were coming to pick me up. We were roadtripping across Costa Rica to Arenal, an active volcano famed for its near perfect cone.

Saying goodbye to my host parents, we left. Retracing our footsteps back to Jacó, we even stopped at the bar Lenay and I nearly spent a rainy night at! An hour later we were enjoying TCBY ice cream (pistacchio anyone?) and spying a couple of tourist shops. Leaving Jacó, a police officer directed us away from the exit back into town. Confused, we kept driving until we returned to the town's main drag. There was a parade!!! I saw traditionally dressed dancers, stilt walkers, clowns, drum lines, bands, and seven foot tall masqueraders! It was completely out of control and all of us were so excited to see this surprise. Coincidentally this was the opening event for Jacó's cultural week. Talk about seeing out of the ordinary!

Continuing down the road, we spent the next several hours navigating based on the national map Seth had gotten from the rental place. We crossed a river-spanning bridge that was infested with crocodiles below. A small herd of cattle approached the river to slake a ninety degree thirst, so I began praying to see that Discovery channel-worthy kill, demonstrating the power between the jaws of these fearsome reptiles. It never happened, so we moved on, climbing into the mountains.

The next four hours of muddling through the roads of this country were marked by several features. We stopped (several times) to back track and ask for directions. In the town of Palmeras we stopped at an ancient looking cathedral to calm ourselves (and to gape in awe). The road quality varied between a fully paved asphalt highway and twenty degree grade, gravel nightmare that would have been better suited to Travis Pastrana. Call it 'Tour Arenal.' We stopped at a CR fast food joint, watched a little spanish Jack Sparrow, and by five o'clock were driving beneath the shadow of a towering volcano.

By this time of day Arenal was shrouded in fog and rain had begun to fall. We found some D'Amore friends at Baldi, a classy resort with twenty some volcanic baths and six dollar beers (ugh!). We found their hotel, checked into the presidential sweet (reduced price, thanks to yours truly, and the power of spanish). It was a three bed number, complete with sectional, tv, fridge, jacuzzi, and a killer view of the volcano. Social hour began when the other group came back. The mood was jovial, as this would be the last hurrah for many of us. Unfortunately the electricity went out (as it often does in this country). Undaunted, the twenty of us lit candles and continued festivities until past midnight.

At 12 AM we were driven to the base of the volcano. Itwas an 8 kilometer drive through some of the bumpiest road that I have been on to date. After following a short pathway through the jungle we came upon a thirty foot wide suspension bridge. There we stopped, dead in our tracks. Arenal was spewing out lava from the cone, and four hours we watched. This experience was absolutely stunning. When in my life have I, or for that matter will I see lava erupting from an active volcano? It would pour down the slope in a matter of seconds, only to be replaced seconds later by the next wave. I couldn't believe it. I was seeing some serious 'Land Before Time' shit and simply could not believe the communion we were sharing with the planet in this very moment. There are moments in life when a human being feels intimately connected with the planet. I am unsure if this will be topped. It was as if I was bearing witness to the fury emerging from the iron and nickel core of the planet, some hundreds of miles within the Earth. I went home humbled, unable to sort out what I had seen.

The next morning we left for a national park in the area. Fully rested (though keeping everyone awake with my cacophonous snoring) we followed our friends to a waterfall on the otherside of Arenal. While Lenay and Jared set off on a two hour hike to explore a massive caldera, Seth, Ashley and I took the easy 15 minute hike down 400+ steps to a freshwater pool. From the bottom we saw the 80 foot faucet pouring down into a fourty foot wide pool. When I jumped in my body was shocked by the Superior-like coldness of the mountain stream. Seth and I swam to a cavern on the other side, and after being whistled back by the park guards we set off further down stream. Nearby I spent damn near close to an hour trying to catch fish out of the shallows. There was a school of hundreds, so Seth and I were sprinkling crackers and trying to scoop these little guys onto shore with our bare hands. It was fun, but we are no jungle natives.

At the end of the day we met back up with the rest of our party at the Arenal Observatory lodge. This is normally a precious viewpoint of the volcano, but fog had moved into the area and the daily rain had begun once again. Nevertheless, we were satisfied with what we had alreay witnessed, and drove home exhausted, getting back to Manuel Antonio after midnight.

Thanks for the PB and J's Ashley!