Vulcan Arena		Tree with bromilliads		Tropiary on road		Resturant Ceiling	Rain Forrest		New Growth
Near the Arena		La Fortuna first view		La Fortuna the great falls		Iguana along the way.	A reptilian friend		Butterfly on food
		Click on the image or its text to see a larger picture.
White Streaks are Steam

Noël’s Other Remarks recieved
Janury 21 | January 22 | January 24 | January 27
February 6 | February 9 | February 17 | Febrruary 20
February 25th | February 26h | February 27th

February 4, 2003

Hola!

Saludos!

Here is the story of my weekend trip - photosare abive.
We went to see vulcan Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica, the Tabacon Hot Springs and La Fortuna waterfall. Unfortunately, to see waterfalls from the bottom you have to climb down, and then up again, but more on that later.

Arenal is often cloud covered, but we we blessed and it was completely clear for us. As we approached through a rain forest walk we heard the mountain rumble several times, and we could see steam from the lava flowing down in a couple of places, and saw rocks bouncing down. (they must ahve been house size!) Our guide said that he usually never sees it that clear. There was much steam coming from the crater at times, too. At night we hoped to see some fire and sparks, but except for a few glimpses Arenal gave us the best show during the morning. I took many photos, the ones you will see on our web site and on film that we can see in March.

The hot springs were fantastic - like the best ¨theme park¨anyone has devised! The hot river coming from the mountain has been channeled into pools of varying size and degrees (some VERY hot) with a water fall to sit behind and a pool complete with wet bar. The landscaping is lush and makes it all look very natural. There were even some tiny frogs with very loud voices, one of whom climbed on my foot as I watched friends come down the waterslide.

On Sunday morning we were bussed to the site from which we clambered down a 500 meter forest walkway to the base of the falls and the cold stream where souls hardier than I swam. About half way down I thought I would never make the bottom, much less get back up to the top, but I am proud to say that I made it. Many of the steps are higher than normal, and all is very steep and slippery. There was a chain hand rail that I made us of. Those of you who know how I feel about heights will be proud of me, and those of you who have been to Ice Glen can imagine the stonier part of the walk, and if you have ever spent an hour climbing up and down a fire escape you can imagine the trip, but the photo I got makes it look easy. I couldn´t take any pix on the steeper parts!

Now back to work (tarea, homework) did you know that there are 5 words for ¨to be¨in Spanish? and they all have rules...

hasta luego,

Noel

PS
If you want to email me at thisaddress, the message will be printed out and given to me.
And, if you want to call me, the number is (506) 265-5280,
and I think the international code for Costa Rica is 011, but you can find that in the phone book.
I am at school from 7:30 until 5 or so, but you can call in the evenings
(I do plan to take the weekend tours, and some daily tours run until 6ish) but not late,
bed time is by 9 (and check out the time zone. think we might be one hour behind you.