Lava dodging

  Arenal, Costa Rica
Friday, October 5, 2007

Picture this: lying in bed watching red hot rocks rolling down the side of a volcano just 2ish Kms away. I don't often use the word awesome, but it was nothing short (maybe too much time spent with yanks is already affecting my vocabulary).




We don't have live pictures of lava because it is only visible at night, but the 'mountain' itself is pretty impressive. Interestingly, the local people didn't know it was a volcano until 1968 when a 'surprise' occured that wiped out the surrounding rainforests and killed several. Previously, the rim was a popular camping spot. Hmm, looks quite obviously volcano-like, conical-shaped to me but hey. Unexpectedly, it all felt very safe. You kind of hope they would know if something unusual might be about to happen. Though it is one of the ten most active in the world. We were really lucky with the specatacle - it usually hides in the clouds. Was magical and beautiful. Oh, and we saw a wild toucan. How special!!!