From the coast to the mountains

We left Quepos and traveled a full day to the volcano Arenal. It is a new volcano (first eruption was in 1968) and it has a new volanic cone because before that time it was only known as a hill. No one realized there was a volcano under the hill.

As you can see we are a pretty well traveled group with some seriously tired travelers. The volcano rises immediately above fields of sugar cane, pineapple, mango and more than a few types of palm trees. Obviously the fertile volcanic soil enhances the possibility for a wide variety of plants to be grown. Also, the rainfall is pretty constant this time of year but we were fortunate to see the volcano in Arenal despite the foreboding rain clouds. I had to get at least one picture of a cyclists riding by.

 We got as many people as we could in one photo and it really turned out nicely. After so many hours on the bus we were able to coax smiles out of the group members.

In Arenal, we were final able to get a good close up view of a sloth (perezozo). They look like the inspiration for the Wookies from Star Wars. The way the fur hangs it looks like it is running at high speed.