Arenal

January 24, 2004-Let It Flow
(photos:Arenal erupting,
Towel swans)

We must have good travel karma. People come here to see the lava flows at night and are disappointed. Last night we sat down to dinner at the patio restaurant of our hotel, the clouds parted, and the fireworks started. We could see the glowing red and gold sparks and lava trails shooting from the top and the glowing boulders bouncing down the hillside. The molten trails shimmered as an afterglow amid choruses of oohs and aahs from the diners. It was like 4th of July fireworks only they have them here every night.

We were seated next to two women from Woodstock, New York. Susan is a retired teacher and Charleah is a retired social worker. We dropped a few hints and talked about our daughter Wendy and her partner and it wasn't too long until they told us that they’re a lesbian couple who have been together eleven years. They told us about a site called Travel Dykes. I guess they´re in touch with women all over the world. They´re meeting one of their email pen pals in San Jose.
We returned to our room and tried to continue watching the lava activity from bed but the clouds had arrived. None of the hotels until this one have had heat or air conditioning. Ours has an A/C window unit but it’s too cold here to need it. At the previous hotels we just snuggled under quilts and blankets.

Most of the hotels use septic systems. They have signs everywhere telling guests not to flush toilet paper. Plastic bag lined trash containers are provided for the disposal of used paper. At first I thought it was gross but it really doesn´t smell.

As in several foreign countries hot and cold water taps are reversed. The hot is on the right. It’s even more confusing when the hot is marked with a ¨C¨ for “caliente.”

We walked to downtown La Fortuna yesterday afternoon. We went into every gift shop and realized that the arts and artisans are really inferior here. We’ll save a bundle in souvenirs. We did find a bargain though. I bought a banana for ¼ of one U.S. penny.

We’d started our rainforest walk today at the Observatory Lodge that used to house researchers from the Smithsonian. Since the volcano grows four feet taller each year, the flow has taken a different direction and can´t be seen from that lodge now.

What are the chances that we’d be on a tour this morning with a couple of gay men? Bob, a nurse, and Al, a wallpaper designer, have been together for twenty-three years. We trekked through a primary and secondary growth rainforest and forded a hot water river with them and the guide Jose. I thought I was tired of forest walks but this was special. We started out in a grassy area that the 1968 eruption of Arenal had destroyed and ended up crossing a field of lava rock that was from a 1982 eruption. It was great fun scrambling over the boulders. What a surprise it was to see orchids growing on the lava. Flowers are so abundant in Costa Rica that the women here prefer artificial ones since they cost more.

I asked our guide why there were paved roads going to the sites in this area and not in other areas. He said that the other tourist towns believe that if they pave their roads people will take day trips from larger cities. With the roads so bad tourists stay longer. The Quakers who settled in those remote areas also wanted to keep it more natural. Makes sense.

After our walk in the lava field we came back to our hotel to find that the maids had created two swans from our towels and had decorated them with orchids. We called everyone from the tour in to see them. AWW!

We watched the volcano before, during, and after dinner, but there was a cloud cover and we finally went to bed without seeing any sparks. Fortunately we’re old and have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. As I was sitting there minding my own business I heard a rumble. Sure enough, at 4 AM, Arenal was putting on a show. I woke David and we sat entranced watching from our bed for half an hour. It was a real bonus.

Toby