Whoa, first trip done.
Amazing how that happens. I was for a week looking forward to the first trip finally starting. I’d overhauled bikes, searched out new bike routes, met new subcontractors and reacquainted with old ones, but mostly had traversed close to 1500 kilometers in a rented mini-SUV, and I was ready to see everything we had done roll into a trip. I wanted everything to work!
Now the first trip is done, and… well… everything worked! The trip went great. The new stuff went well. The guests were great. It was, as we say, SMOOOOVE.
Quick side note: My new goal in this blog is to highlight one or two things from the trip every week. That way I won’t get to an area, do one trip, one mega-huge blog entry, and then not write again for three months. So this is an experiment. After the events of the last week, the obvious place to start is with Volcanoes! Why is that the obvious choice, you might ask? I’ll get to that.
We start our trip, after a pickup in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, with a 1.5 hour shuttle to the top of Volcan Irazu. Irazu is one of Costa Rica’s seven active volcanoes. The last major eruption was in 1996, but it’s most famous eruption was on March 13, 1963, when it erupted the day President John F. Kennedy landed in San Jose for an official visit. Standing at 11,260 feet, Irazu is Costa Rica’s highest volcanic point, making the hike out to the edge of the inner crater much more strenuous than it looks! The water in the inner crater varies in color from day to day, from bright green (see below) to blood red. (Side note again: Costa Rica’s highest point is Cerro Chirripo, at 12,526 feet. Sometimes it even freezes there! It’s a three day trip to get there: a day to rent a horse or mule to carry your gear to the top and hike to the top, a day to recover from the hike to the top, and a day to return to the bottom. I’d love to go, but that will have to wait for next year, as the station on the top is rented out at least three months in advance.) We start our first ride from the top of Irazu and descend close to 8,000 feet before the ride rolls into Turrialba. We stay the first night at Turrialtico, with views of Volcan Turrialba, one of Costa Rica’s many dormant volcanoes.
On day two we transfer into La Fortuna, a tourist filled town at the base of Volcan Arenal. Arenal is Costa Rica’s most visited volcano because it’s the most exciting. Arenal has constant activity. Because it lies in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest, Arenal is unfortunately usually surrounded by clouds. The moist air slams into this volcano that stands high above the rest of the landscape and immediately forms a cloud that surrounds the volcano. It’s a rare day that the clouds break for even ten minutes for a totally clear view of the volcano. Most people get excited about a chance to maybe see what might be a little of the top of the volcano. We had two days of mostly clear viewing of the volcano. During the day, if you look closely at the volcano, you can see what looks like little puffs of dust or smoke rolling down the mountain as the volcano spews lava down its sides. Larger eruptions create thunderous echoes across the valley below. Nighttime is the more spectacular time to see the volcano though. Even with clouds, you can often see glowing red lava rolling down the volcano below the clouds, and with the clear night skies we were given some truly once in a lifetime views of the volcano. I’ve included day and night photos of Arenal for your viewing pleasure. That’s all for now. Peace out and Pura Vida!
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We start our trip, after a pickup in the capital of 
On day two we transfer into La Fortuna, a tourist filled town at the base of Volcan Arenal. Arenal is small.jpg)
