Volcan Poas and La Paz Waterfall

On Friday after work three of us set off for Alejula, a small town 45 mins outside San Jose (the capital). The bus winds down through the moutains for 2 and 1/2 hours. By the time we arrived I was pretty car sick and really to get my feet on the ground. The hostel we were staying in was nice and clean and we ended up with our own room, with cable tv! I haven't watched tv since I've been here! They had enemy at the gates in English on so that was our evening sorted! For dinner, someone within the group, mentioning no names, wanted to go for Chinese food, so off we went to commit culinary madness, Chinese food in costa rica. I wasn't impressed and didn't eat much of mine, instead I went to the supermarket and bought bananas and cereal- always a good emergancy dinner.
We had arranged for a mini van to pick us up at 7.30 am to go to the volcano as the best chance to see it without mist is in the morning. The driver was really sweet and ended up being an unofficial tour guide for the while day, telling us all about the area, farming and plants while we drove back into the mountains (all in Spanish though!)
However best laid plans... Never work as when we arrived the crater was shrouded in thick mist which was belching sulphur fumes accross the viewing area. Not to be dettered we started the hike up to the lagoon crater further up the volcano in the hope it might be clear. It was in a thick mis as well but we decided to wait it out. After half an hour we started to see the edges of the lagoon down the crater and little ripples on the water. Then suddenly the mist cleared and the sun was shining down over the whole lagoon, it was magical and beautiful. I took millions of photos in sheer joy at this place being revealled to us. Within minutes the cloud was rolling in again and the lagoon disappeared once again. We returned to the first crater in the hope of seeing it but it wasn't to be and I was satisfied with my lagoon experience. We went back to the ranger center and got something to eat and I bought myself the obligatory tacky tshirt, with lava etc on it!
We then headed over to the la Paz (the peace) waterfalls, a series of large cascades in a complex that also had a butterfly centre and hummingbird garden. The area in which it was had suffered a earthquake last year which meant many of the villages we passed through on the drive were eerily deserted and the whole towns were empty. Once we arrived, and I tried to pay to get in I realised that I had lelft my debit card at the cafe at volcan poas! Drama drama followed/- not really I was impressed with how calm I stayed. I realised thewoman had never given it back to me when I had paid so I asked the reception at the waterfall to call the cafe and ask if my card was there- which it was thank god! So the driver, carlos, took me back in the car, another 49 min drive to poas while the others went to the water falls. I was pretty stressed but my card was there wrapped in a cellotaped bag. It was a weird experience bein I this van for almost two hours trying to speak Spanish, we chatted about football, Scotland and cars. I though I was doing ok until I realised I had told him Scotland has many earthquakes, oops.
Back at the falls I waited in reception for the others as I didn't want to pay the whole entry fee to only have an hour. Fortunatley the guys must have felt sorry for me as they let me in half price, but I had an hour to power hike down to the falls and back, I have never been so out of breath! And by this time it was torrential rain! It was worth the sweat and risk of slipping as they were magnificent, almost moreso in the rain and being by myself was special. The hummingbird gareden was also beautiful and I was momentarily mesmorised by them, just watching them fly around me.
Back at the hostel we all crashed out, it had been a tiring day! I needed to find a phone though to speak to my bank as I didn't want to assume my card was safe! The bank were really nice and told me just to watch the Internet backing to make sure there were no suspicious transactions, so now I'm on it all the time! Ice cream and pizza for dinner, a safer and yummier choice all round. A big sleep in preparation for gallery visits in San Jose on Sunday.