La Fortuna Pics / Mt Arenal

random jungle fog...
tree toed sloth-- very cool, kind of grey greenish.
giant orange black iguanas!
mt arenal shows itself for a 1/2 hour before covering up again.

The Next Day, by Schu

Back at it.
Met Cath and Isaac for a morning walk of the base of Mt Arenal. Enter at Your Own Risk signs made us feel doubly intrepid and the thundering sound of rocks spinning down the west slope was pretty fantastic. Most of Arenal however is shrouded in fog currently. As promised I returned to my grounded, meandering ways and enjoyed a trek into some high grasses where tigers could hide and then just to the right a rain forest. It was fun to experience such a sharp turn in climate and just the little jaunt was much more intimate and overwhelming then even the lush and protected cloudforest... Cath seemed not to want to stray too far into the jungle and when we startled a turkey vulture and caused us all to jump a little, I can understand why. But it was cool and shady and lovely. We then joined the que to the volcano rocks, where there was a view of the lake and several more views of the rocks thundering down, and epidendrum orchids and lilies sprouting up. A flying toucan! which I yelled out to Cath, which caused a multitude of tourists to whip out their binoculars and snap their zm lens in the direction of my outstretched finger. Then walking back I saw a snake that had red-black stripes causing me to hault the group with a gasp and say, guys! i think that´s a snake! ooo. Obvious. But I´m the only one who saw it. Then the mystery bird 2nd photo down, and an army of ants stretching around a building and threading through the grassy fields of the park entrance.

After such an exhilirating time of it especially on the eve of the new year it was time for drinks at the pool and a good long soak. Fan'tastic. It was a particularly epic and lovely morning.

I then met the group for dinner whereeveryone was already 2 sheets to the wind, and headed very reluctantly to a discotheque which was fine until the stripper slash duff girls showed up... but the beer is called imperial- and the M-C was annoying and wouldn´t shut up the entire night...though the guy dancers were entertaininig... but still... it made it more about them and not us, and the music, only so'so. And after such a contrast to peace and relaxment, it was jarring in the extreme. I drank beer which I hate, stuffed toilet paper in my ears, tried to dance, but to no avail as every fiber of my being was bored and completely anti-whatever it was that was going on in there. Yah, yah, yah happy new year! Julie and I and Marianna took a cab home as Martin tried to drunkenly explain to the cab driver our needs. I think we would have managed but nonetheless, being told I love you, I really do- by unsober people on New years is par for the course. And overall it was a good end to a pretty fabulous year. So long 2008!

Down the Mountain, by Schu

the photos run in the reverse, and i think i was too busy trying not to be ill to catch the treacherous road down the mountain but there it is.

Early morning start... ok not that early, 8am. The mystery bug still with most of the people. Had a lovely breakfast of eggs,toast,fruit and tea. Said goodbye to our loveable dog that had adopted us and I took one ginger pill and my emergency supply of dramamine. 1 tablet. I being one of the least ill in my car took the back right seat in the van and half way down the lurching, breaking, swerving, swaying less smoothe than a packaderm trip down the mountain my ears were starting to burn. The first telltale sign of being completely off my rocker nauseous. I quick ferreted out another pill and another ginger tablet and made a little lake in my mouth and popped them both in. There was some audible sighs and I might have said, ´´shit¨ a couple of times as my head thwaked against the window. Sleep, without the blue pills was near impossible... as this was a fancy less drowsy pill. We stopped at a shop and I grabbed some soda water and watched a few mountain ducks in a pond and it was back into the van, cursing the quakers and the locals who refuse to pave the road. I defended my position about the pointlessness of suffering in this rustic quaint way, but then Julie said that visiters increased at Machu Picchu once part of the roads there were paved, by 1000 aday... but what do i know.

Stupid Roads!

The 2nd pill started kicking in and I was drowsy and cold by the time we reached Lake Arenal- manmade apparently and supplying 50% of costa rican electricity... who knew. We were ferryed across to what I thought the roadsides of central america should have looked like from the beginning. Lush. But the jungle having been hacked away in most places along all of the drives. Which I think is why I liked Hondurus so much- I just stared out into epic consuming jungleness. But anyway it was a short drive into La Fortuna proper and it was nothing but a sea of luxury retreats and spa get aways. The town is nice and mostly filled with souvenir shops and a really spectacular place to get a good fajita. One of the best things Ive had here.

Unfortunately on our way to the guideoperator shop, before lunch, to arrange optional activities I saw a dog get hit by a car. The number of strays is minimal here compared to the rest of cen am but I suppose statistically it has to happen... but anyway completely traumatizing. Mostly because Julie took it so hard and I myself who actually saw the dog get hit had that dark hard feeling in my chest. As the dog got taken under the wheel it jumped up and yelped a few times as Julie started to dart into the road screaming that we needed to help it, it dropped down dead. And I was so so so thankful. We weren´t equipped to help it and I think the end would have been the same, but it was brutal to hear the cry and it seemed to be staring right at us in pain, with its foot mangled and crying...we had to just keep walking as she sobbed. And just that morning we´d said goodbye to our adopted dog back in monteverde. And then while sitting at the guide shop with Julie brimming with tears and everyone else sort of somber and wanting to forget I looked out a tiny ledge and saw a warbler bird body slamming a small lizard into the cement over and over again. Nature is brutal people, even in all its glory. I could not help but stare wide eyed at the odd correlation of events swimming around me.

And then after lunch it was off to try and find Cath and Isaac and not let the first words out of my mouth be- dead dog. But they´d seen it maybe minutes after so it was still something shared. And all of that passing rapidly away it was strange to see them in this reality. As if something wasn´t quite right. The group. My friends... same place. But seperate. So I spent sometime in their posh place up the road from my hotel soaking my feet in a hot tub, eating pizza and watching bad movies... Then made a dark walk back to my hotel, peering around nervously ocassionally as I passed the graveyard and then the massive ant colony, wondering where exactly I was and what had happened.