We like to spend winters in warm places, since we live in central Indiana. For this trip, we are hanging out in Costa Rica for the month 

of January, it’s very toasty down here this time of year. We rented a comfortable condo in the Pacific beach town of Playa del Coco, and it’s right on the beach. There are also a lot of howler monkeys in the trees and iguanas wandering around the property, so we know we’re a long way from home.

We ran all over the province being tourists, and you can see our videos elsewhere on this website that document our zip line adventure, plus a band of Coatis we ran across, and a few others. At the same time, it was most fun to live as close as we could like the locals. We bought fresh foods at the market each day and ate most meals at home, but the local restaurants were first class as well. We love the food in Costa Rica, especially the local casada.

One day during our stay, Sharon wondered if we could visit Costa Rica’s largest active volcano and maybe even climb it! This is the kind of thinking we get into while spending winters in warm foreign countries, and arrangements turned out to be easy. In town, we found a number of outfitters for just about any kind of travel adventure you could want. We quickly found a guide who would not only get us there, but also take us as close to the top as we cared to venture. Within a day or two, we were off to visit Arenal.

After a scenic drive of a couple hundred kilometers, we park as close as we can to the volcanoes in the area, and our native guide, Rodrigo, informs us we will have to walk through some rain forest country on our way to the Arenal volcano. Animals will be around, but don’t let them bother you, he said. He even mentioned something about pythons, saying we wouldn’t see them, but we may hear them in the underbrush. Was he just having fun with us tourists, or not?

Off we go, past the signs that declared we were entering a “zone of high volcanic risk”. Rodrigo said that’s true, then added, “If I say run, I mean it!”

A beautiful day for a hike, with Rodrigo in front, watching carefully for both flora and fauna of interest. Along the way, he points out beautiful orchids as well as things not to step on. It’s easy here to mistake, say, a four foot iguana for a tree stump. Here’s a picture of one. As we continue along, the foliage becomes very dense! We were glad to have our guide to keep us pointed in the right direction through here, and past more signs we were nearing the volcano.

After hiking for close to an hour, we notice a change from the tropical 

jungle and soon come out on old lava flows. Arenal rises in the background, much larger than we had envisioned. As we approach, we begin climbing over huge lava boulders that apparently were strewn throughout a vast area in a single eruption in 1992. These are now the foothills of Arenal, and Rodrigo says this is what we will climb today. To go further, Rodrigo informs us, could lead us into areas of toxic fumes that regularly spill from the Arenal crater. After a rigorous climb over these boulders, we reach the top and check out the view. While we are looking at the volcano and taking these pictures, Rodrigo is watching the clouds roll in, then says we better get off the mountain, it’s going to rain. He was right, the rains started just as we got down and back to our car.

Not far from Arenal is the first class Tabacon Hot Springs Resort. The Arenal volcano heats underground water to as high as 106 degrees, so the resort was built around the resulting hot springs and the beautiful foliage to be found in this rain forest heated by the nearby volcanic activity.

We’ll end this story of our visit to the Arenal volcano with a few photos of the amazing plants we encountered along the Tabacon Hot 

Springs. If you ever get into the area, be sure to stop for a dip in the hot springs and a great dinner at the adjacent resort.

 We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and highly recommend a visit to Costa Rica, especially when it’s wintertime back home!