Costa Rica : Poas and Arenal

Buenas tardes amigos,

A few thousands miles south of Montana, the weather is a little bit warmer here in Costa Rica (just 30°C more than the temperature I had 2 days ago, in fact...), and good news for me, it is the same time zone.

Yannick, please don't look at the pictures below, you won't believe it.
For the other ones, if you have ever heard that is raining all the time in Costa Rica, this is just a legend, the sky can also be blue... And if you are lucky enough to have such a day, then the hikes around the Poas volcano are just amazing. You cross the rainforest, full of orchids and strange mushrooms (no, I did not try to smoke any of them !), and then reach the calderas. One of them is the active exit of the volcano, the other one has become a small lake.

This part of country is very rich in terms of agriculture. Below, fields of strawberries covered with tarpaulins, coffee and palm trees.



You can see on the side of the road the typical farmers with the colored harness they often use.



If you go on in the direction of the Arenal volcano, then you start crossing ranches. And here I am back to open range and fields full of horses. The cattle is just slightly different from the charolais cows in Montana. ;)



Now, to be completely honest, you might also get rain sometimes. And then it starts looking like we could ask Noah to build a new arch, because the flooding seems to be very close.



2 hours later (believe me, this is a lot longer than a 5 second video...), when you can get out of your shelter, and head towards Fortuna, you might get lucky enough to see the Arenal (one of the 10 most active volcanoes in the world), which does not happen often, because of the clouds and rain. According to local people, the sky has not been so clear for at least 3 months. Unfortunately, it seems that it won't be the case tomorrow. Time to check how efficient my rain jacket is, and how water-proof the shoes are...



To get accustomed to the Costa Rican water, I have just spent 2 hours in the Baldi hot springs, with 25 pools full with water heated by the volcano. The temperature ranges between 25°C and 67°C. The 34°C and 42°C ones are my favorite, and after 2 hours in them, I am just looking forward to a good night...