Thursday, December 1, 2011

La Fortuna Y Volcano Arenal!

Today we awoke in La Fortuna just at the base of Arenal, the most active volcano in all of Costa Rica (and maybe all of Central America.

Arenal - Clouds cover the peak
In the morning we went to the Arenal Hanging Bridges hike through the rain forest canopy which was awesome.  In the afternoon we hiked Arenal.

The hanging bridges hike was across the small valley in the shadow of Arenal.  Some of the hanging bridges were well over 100 feet above the forest floor.  We saw some amazing plants and got to witness the three dimensional ecosystem nature of the Rain Forest.


Here are some pictures from the trip:

Initial Bridge into the Forest
Lower Canopy
Mid Level Canopy

Amazing Waterfall

Jurassic Park?

Looking Down at one of the bridges























And maybe the highlight of the trip was getting to see my first Fer de Lance!


Fer de Lance




















Next it was on to ARENAL

One Day Orchid
The Path In

Peligro!

Volcanic Rock Road

A Volcanic Lahar

Another One Day Orchid

What a beetle!!

Climbing the Lava Flow

Making it to the Top

Lava Flow Remant

Far as we can go towards the summit

View of CR´s largest lake