Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Arenal Volcano - Day 4 in Costa Rica - Enjoying Hot Springs and Touring Plantations.

Tuesday, March 02, 2021

Arenal Volcano - Day 4 in Costa Rica - Enjoying Hot Springs and Touring Plantations.

ALL PICTURES ARE NOT RE-TOUCHED. CLICK TO ENLARGE.

Lulu in hot water from the Arenal Volcano behind her

In the afternoon - the top is almost visible

We made hot chocolate. The plastic bag contains my handmade

chocolate bar

The mountain from our $80 lodge. I am guessing the lodges are

10% full

We came to La Fortuna to see the Arenal Volcano - and we were not disappointed. At first rain clouds obscured the mountain - but during the day it cleared enough to get a good look. We decided not to climb it because most of the time we would have been in mist and rain - and could see nothing.

Arenal Volcano - is a perfect symmetrical strato-cone. It is made of layers of lava and ash from previous eruptions. It is 5400 feet tall and we are staying at the base about 800 feet up. This volcano has been very active up until 2010. In 1968 - it had a major eruption - burying the town of Tobacon - and killing 80 people. Some say La Fortuna - the town we are in was named that because it was fortunate to escape disaster. We have seen volcanoes erupt in Hawaii. We saw the giant hole that Mount Saint Helens made above its explosive eruption. This one looks like what you expect - like something you made in a science lab.

We had lunch in the town of La Fortuna. Food prices are cheap and tourists are rare. We had a hearty meal with drinks for $20 total for 2 - that included tip and tax. We left extra. Remember the average person makes $2.25 an hour.

Then we went on a tour of a coffee and cocoa plantation. It was little contrived and no one else was there for the tour. They gave us a VIP tour for two hours. It included making different products and tasting. Our guide Brandon was delightful - and we enjoyed asking personal questions about life there.

We talked politics. They are very proud of their "no military" thing - and their great schools. There are also no guns and no hunting. Wildlife and plants abound. They have had 400 straight days of only using renewable energy - hydro power - geo power - sun power - wind power. Since the average temperature ranges from 68 to 78 - they use very little heat and AC.

All day it was beautiful with a steady breeze. This causes orographic rain. Winds here are almost always from the east. They blow air up the east side of the mountain where it cools and rains. This makes one side of the mountain green - and the leeward side is brown. They grow coffee and chocolate at only certain elevations. The soil is great - and they have a match of rain and sun. Just right.

They only make 1% of the world's coffee - but they like to think they are a niche producer of Arabica beans. We harvested and tasted both cacao beans and coffee beans. We made chocolate bars - hot chocolate - and coffee. We added - honey sugar - milk powder - cinnamon - chocolate powder - to make dark and milk chocolate. We tasted 100% chocolate - very bitter.

Lulu roasted - ground - and pressed coffee for herself. she was impressed with the coffee and herself.

We went back to our lodge to swim in the volcano heated pools. the mountain cleared and we got some great photos in the pool in fort of the mountain.

Tomorrow we go to the Pacific Coast.