I was awake before six so decided to go for a 30 minute - 70 length - swim as the hotel had a lovely pool just in front of the breakfast area. That set me up for breakfast and the day - great pineapple and papaya but I cannot really enjoy toast with margarine albeit I tried; I avoided the sugar coated cereals and I am yet to acquire a taste for rice and beans at breakfast - it is seemingly the staple of all meals! That said I had sufficient. At 9am we headed off to the volcano national park for a nature walk up to a view point on the Arenal volcano's lower slopes. En route to the national park we saw a laughing falcon perched high in a tree - a beautiful bird which looks as if it is wearing a black mask over its eyes. On arrival at the national park we decamped from the bus and made our way to a gravel track and walked through sugar cane type tall grasses followed by 20-30 year old forest. Amongst other things we saw lovely one day white and purple orchids - so named because that's all they last ( today's photo). As we walked the sun came out requiring me to get my hat out an enabling us to have a really nice walk. Views of the Arenal volcano, currently dormant for the last 2 years, changed as clouds passed over it but it remained shrouded in variable amounts of cloud and we were unable to see the top of the cone albeit we saw 80-90% of the volcano. If we looked in the other direction there was a very large lake - the source of hydro electric power - and clear blue skies. On the way back down we saw some new birds - the social flycatcher, Hoffman's woodpecker and golden hooded tanager and watched leaf cutter ants cutting and transporting leaves back to their nest.
On the journey back to the hotel we saw a live and dead coatimundi - sadly they are attracted to the roads by people who feed them and then get run over. While watching them ....John tried to ask Juan Carlos what the rare hawk he was trying to see looked like but he was on the phone and the driver set off - when we slowed the message finally got through and a distraught guide realised he had missed a white hawk only metres away. I then spotted a white bird circling above - reprieved another white hawk but it perched a fair distance away -but at least we saw it!! When we got back to the hotel we walked to a local restaurant for a light lunch - John was happy as he had a cheese and ham roll - I had guacamole, refried beans and a salsa with corn chips - I ate a bit too much and it was liberally stuffed with garlic -which turned out to be a digestive challenge!
In the afternoon we went to La Fortuna
waterfall - 600 steps down and up - some of our brave souls went for a swim in the pool of the fast running falls - others went for the easier but equally cold river - we watched from the bank and the viewing platform ( well I had had my swim today already!)
We went back to the hotel, collected our swimming things and a change of clothes and went to one of the hot springs for a nice relax - even John came in which will no doubt be his one and only venture into a pool this holiday! It was lovely and hot and standing under a small waterfall you had a really nice back and neck massage. We tested all the 5 pools ( well John with his allergy to water tested one - but we were in that one the longest - and looking up from it we could see a sloth high in the tree above) and finished in a cold one 45 minutes later.
While we had been in the pool Juan Carlos had been hunting for red eyed tree frogs or gaudy frogs - those you see on all Costa Rican literature - he found one which he took us to see - sadly I had left my camera behind! I am sure I will remember it though.
Back on the bus; we went to the restaurant we went to the first night - still full from lunch I had a juice and fruit salad and ice cream - I have learnt never to think you know what you are ordering is the same as the UK - well my fruit salad came with very nice chopped papaya, ice cream and
jelly!!! Actually very fruity and tasty but the last time I experienced jelly or even asked for it was probably when I was ten!!