Life in the Clouds

Sometimes, the weather doesn't cooperate.

Sometimes, you imagine a place, and the environment that surrounds it, and the photos that you're going to take. And when the day starts off on the right foot, it's hard to imagine anything else.

We started our first full day in Costa Rica at a hotel, just north of the San Jose airport, up in the hills. We had a great unit with a large terrace that looked above the jungle that surrounded us. Breakfast was delivered to our door and we sat outside, marvelling at the myriad birds fluttering and singing over our heads.

Beautiful.

Our rental agency delivered our four-wheel drive SUV to the hotel. Our first order of the day was to get a data card for our phones, some local currency, and then to head to our next destination: La Fortuna and the Arunal Volcano that stands as the town's backdrop and is the area's biggest attractions.

The volcano erupted violently in 1968 and spewed lava for more than 40 years. It caused widespread devastation and caused the town of La Fortuna a lot of damage. 

Getting to La Fortuna was a two-and-a-half-hour drive that had us climbing windy, narrow roads over steep mountains. There were lots of switchbacks and tight corners.

But as we climbed, we encountered fog, then rain, and soon we were in thick clouds that made visibility a challenge.

I love challenging drives.

As we descended into La Fortuna, the clouds lifted (or more correctly, we got out from under them). We even caught glimpses of blue sky, and we looked forward to seeing the volcano.

But it wasn't to be. Not on our first day. 

We stopped in the heart of the town and found a nice restaurant for lunch. It was an open air restaurant and we could see straight up a road that led to the volcano, that was completely shrouded in thick clouds. We kept or cameras handy, in case there was a break in the clouds and we could capture a peek.

No luck during lunch.

After our meals, DW and I went to the town square, a park that is in front of the town's main church, which is a famous attraction because the volcano fills the background.

On this day, we only saw clouds. At best, we caught glimpses of the mountainous base.

We checked into our hotel, which is even closer to the volcano and our room looks out to it. So far, all we see are clouds.

All that was left for us to do was to visit a natural spring that is naturally heated by the volcano. The whole time we were there, it rained.

But no matter: we were getting soaked in the best way possible, up high in the clouds.

Today, we'll try to see Arenal again. And a waterfall.