Cosat Rica Part 1 - Arenal Volcano National Park

We have been looking forward to taking a trip for a long time. We decided on Costa Rica and after a long summer of studying for the bar (well I wasn't studying but I missed my husband) we were excited to get on a plane and head south. We arrived in San Jose and after some hassle made it to our rental car place. The guy there suggested we rent a GPS along with the car. We were hesitant for a bit, but then decided that it would be a good idea. That was the smartest choice of the entire trip. There are no street signs and no addresses in the entire country of Costa Rica! The GPS was specially programmed to simply recognize the names of hotels and towns and such. So after one night in San Jose, we drove through mountains and villages, north, to the Arenal Volcano National Park.

Our hotel was beautiful and we had almost our own little bungalow in the beautiful garden they had on the grounds.

 We jammed our days full of adventure, including a trip down the Penas Blancas river.

 We saw crocodrillos (crocodiles)

 Water birds

and  Monkeys

 We also stopped for lunch at a little hut where a 104 year-old man lived. I wanted to wait to post until I could get pictures from Brian's parents, but who knows how long that will take.

 Another adventure included riding ziplines through the rainforest.

 The longest line was over half a mile and you can get up to 45 mph.

 After the zip-lines we headed over to the hanging bridges. A trail winds through the rainforest, crossing tons of hanging bridges suspended over thick green foliage.

 Brian's favorite part of the trip was the massive amounts of food he ate.

 We stayed near a little town called La Fortuna. This is the La Fortuna waterfall and after a steep hike we made it down to this gorgeous pool.

 Gotta love Brian's hair.

 One of my favorite activities was a night hike that we went on with a guide. We got to see a lot of animals that are not out in the day, like frogs,

nasty centipedes

more frogs,

and snakes!

While this snake is not poisonous, Costa Rica is home to some of the most poisonous snakes on earth

We were lucky enough to see a red-eyed tree-frog. These are the typical frogs you see in pictures and posters representing the rainforest, but they are much rarer to see in real life.

This grasshopper was amazing.

 

Just look at those teeth!

Lake Arenal now covers a town that was destroyed by the volcano in the 1960s.

Spiders anyone?

The rainforest is truly amazing, and although the volcano isn't active right now (a few years ago you could see nightly lava flow) we had a great time in this area. There is so much life and growth surrounding you. It was quite the change from dry, deserty Utah. We wished we could have stayed longer, but were excited to travel down south to the beach.