Sunday, January 29, 2012

May 2011: Arenal Area

Our last stop in Costa Rica was at La Fortuna, near Arenal Volcano. We stayed in a charming B&B with small cabins in second growth jungle. Although second growth, the trees were already of an impressive height and home to a large number (and variety) of frogs. While we only saw a small number (with some local help), they made a tremendous noise at night!


Having seen the quetzal in Monteverde, we still had the tree frog and toucan to complete our Costa Rica wildlife highlights. Although we didn't manage photos of either, we saw a tree frog in the jungle by our cabin, and the toucan made a brief appearance on our last day in La Fortuna (but not close enough for a photo). A very satisfactory ending to a wonderful vacation.


Cara was impressed by the size of this leaf.


We couldn't see much of the volcano through the clouds, but it is known to be active!


A flower that caught C's eye.


The trees compare to the Pacific NW for size!


We sometimes had colorful company at breakfast.


The Hanging Bridges were a wonderful way to explore the rainforest in the Arenal region.


And this friendly cockatoo by the park entrance happily ate up guavas that Cara held out.


Our final site was the lovely La Fortuna Waterfall.


But the pool at the bottom was more of a draw for Cara.


And after 9 days of non-stop photographs - enough!