Poás Volcano National Park
Our first stop was a small motel with rustic A-frame cabins nestled in and amongst lush trees and brimming with colorful hydrangeas. Surrounded by rolling grassy hills, we chose it because it was a both a short drive from San Jose and close to the active(ish) Poás Volcano National Park. The owners kindly allowed us to check in early and we gratefully piled into our little home for much-needed rest. Our first observation was that there are two main truths about buildings in Costa Rica: first, there is often no hot water. Second, there are very few lights. I guess the Costa Ricans like natural light and don’t need so much hot water as we soft Americans (and English, I suppose). Still, we became used to cold water showers which were great in the hotter lower elevations. That first night up in the mountains was a bit of a shock. Characters were built!
Before we left for the Volcano, Meggie managed to befriend a small ginger and black patched kitten. The little chap followed the kids around and even joined us for breakfast in the restaurant. Smart animal. When we left the next day, we had to check Raul and Meg’s bags to make sure that she wasn’t hiding a small orange stow away. Robyn and I really had to step up our language skills as for nearly the entirety of our stay in Costa Rica we were unable to speak English as no one else understood it. I really enjoyed this, and although I relished practicing my Espanol, I sometimes needed Google translate. In fact, quite often the local people who were enduring my attempts at speaking their language actually put an end to my misery by taking my phone and typing in what I was trying to say, or what they needed me to know. Awesome!
The volcano and national park were amazing. Several of the trails were closed due to mudflow and, occasionally, gasses I think. We were visiting during a time when there are huge storms almost every night. A local told me sometime later that this was not the official rainy season. You could have fooled me-the nightly storms were astonishing in their power and were a constant source of wonder for all of us. We made our way along verdant mountain trails to the caldera that nestled a few hundred feet below the observation point. Milky blue liquid lurked somewhat menacingly amongst clouds of steam and steadily gas leaking out. It was invigorating and a little scary to think that we were so close to a volcano that had shaped the local topography and had caused mayhem to people during years past. The visitors’ center was informative and showed how the local terrain had been shaped by the volcano over the past few thousand years. As impressive, at least to us, was the array of different plants such as the huge elephant ear plants with leaves 3 feet across. These could easily be employed as umbrellas. Unseen birds shrieked eerily from the forest as we trudged back to Raul in the light rain tired but happy. Great first day!
