Volcan Arenal!

This past weekend, I headed off to Volcan Arenal - one of the world's most active volcanoes that after 400 years of being 'dormant' erupted suddenly in 1968 and wiped out an entire village.

Many people don't get a chance to see the whole volcano because of smoke and fog, however I got lucky (I didn't when I went back at night hoping to get a glimpse of lava, however I was pretty excited with this view)
































I went hiking at the base of the volcano(its not a wise idea to climb the volcano as CO2 and other gases are still coming out of it) with a guide who was an ecologist - he knew everything! I saw monkeys, toucans not on a fruit loops box, oropendulas (birds that make this incredible sound and have BRIGHT yellow tails), sloths, a fuzzy bug that looks like a big cotton ball and gives you a rash, lots of frogs and more!! (sorry I don't have pictures of this but this is when my camera decided it was low on batteries...) The plants of the humid forest (its in between a rainforest and a cloud forest) are pretty incredible - lots of flowers that look like birds of paradise and super green and lush!














Tarzan-Jane style
With all the geo-activity there is lots of sulfur and hot water, thus tons of great hot springs...and I definitely indluged. (for some reason the blog doesnt want to upload anymore pics...I'll try again tomorrow)

And the next day I hiked out to some gorgeous waterfalls where you could see the fish in the water and could swim, although it was like one of those pools that push you forward because of the current - this would never be allowed in the U.S.