OneWayTicket

Day 58/59: Walking on treetops in a tropical storm

Apart from watching the volcano -- in awe and, yes, I admit, in fear -- we had a lot of time to walk and explore the lush meadows and tropical rain forests around us and watch how people go about their lives.

The natural wonders of this country are without question its main attraction, but Costa Rica is particularly inviting to us because of its friendly people. We´ve made friends and exchanged emails. We haven´t yet been cheated. The locals try to help if you are lost or confused. If they don´t know English, they will speak slowly in Spanish, and if that fails, expect a lot of gesturing.

It starts from the very young, like the young boy we met at a rest stop during a bus ride (see photo below).

He was happy to display and hold out his pet baby iguana -- a sprightly green lizard that all of the country loves -- and animatedly told us in Spanish all about the creature´s habits. When the bus driver gently told him that no one spoke Spanish, he said, "Oh, that´s sad, I can´t speak English." And he continued his monologue about the iguana, handing him from person to person. When a German passenger handed the boy a packet of chips, he shyly said, in English, "Tank you."

Then there was Eduardo, the local guide in Arenal who took us on early morning two-hour walks (offered free by our hotel, the Arenal Observatory Lodge) through the forests, pointing out impossibly colourful toucans where we saw only the tops of trees, startling his mostly American clientele by producing sudden, loud imitation of howler monkeys, racing with her binoculars into the forest when he heard the howls of coyotes. It was during his morning walks that we met these lads of the land, local cowboys, herding their cows outside the forests (see photo below).

On the last of our three days here, the swarthy Eduardo (42, my age) had become a friend, walking over with a cheerful ¿Como Esta? (how are you?) whenever he saw us. He was delighted that I was trying to speak Spanish, and he was delighted that someone had come from the other side of the world to his country. When we say, we are from India, we get a standard question: yes, but you live in the USA, right? No, from India, we say. Incredulous looks, then big grins.

We got asked that question very often here in Arenal, from locals and Americans who make up nearly all the clientele at the Observatory Lodge. There was a lot of time to talk while waiting for the volcano to spew out its lava and belt out its crack-and-thunder routine. There was also a lovely view from the Lodge´s restaurant of Lake Arenal, a sprawling lake created by a dam as the wife has previously reported. You can take lake tours, ride jet scooters or live in an isolated, rustic lodge anywhere along its banks.

(Photo, above: the view of Lake Arenal from the restaurant of our lodge)

We got drenched on our last day at Arenal, as we walked the trails of a rain-forest park, which is nothing but a gorgeous swathe of rain forest with trails built into it by a private company and steel bridges -- we crossed about 15 -- suspended in the canopy! Yes, you actually walk at tree-top height on these swaying bridges, and if you dare, look down at the floor of the forest. Foolishly, we didn´t take a guide and so didn´t see too much wildlife, which abounds in these parks. In any case, we spent most our time soaking wet as a downpour -- and I mean a DOWNPOUR of the Mumbai monsoon variety -- caught me scrambling to cover my camera bag with the cheap Chinese raincoat I had bought. The wife, a Bombay girl to the core, just tripped along happily singing old Bollywood rain songs, while I anxiously struggled on behind, stopping only when a tree crashed onto our path with a big, frightening crack. Had we been there five seconds earlier, hmmm.....

(Photo, below, one of the swaying, steel bridges suspended in the canopy of the rain forest, those are the tops of trees around it, sorry, couldn´t give you proper visual perspective of just how high we are off the forest floor)

That night, the downpour -- which looked like it might never end -- stopped and Arenal put up its best show yet, crackling, rumbling and sending cascades of lava down its slopes. The rain is actually very good for volcano watching because it clears the air and lifts the clouds. Even the hordes of American students, with their guffawing and slightly derisive attitude to staring at a mountain, couldn´t help but work themselves into a frenzy of excitement every time she poured forth another load of glowing lava. The highpoint was a brief three-second explosion of lava from its cone, a spectacular fountain of red fire that sent everyone scrambling from their dinner tables to the observation deck. Sorry, I didn´t have my camera ready.

THE EXIT

We´re now on day 59, the volcano has receded from our sight, and it took four hours of hard driving through some pouring rain to get back to the capital, San Jose.

Only after we reached San Jose did we realise why so much rain has been sweeping the country (it does rain regularly, but it has been particularly intense). A tropical storm, the worst in more than 100 years, has blocked the main highway, caused huge traffic disruptions and inundated towns. A quarter of the country is now in a state of emergency.

It´s been sheer luck we chose areas that didn´t get the brunt of the storm, just the rainy side effects. It´s our last night in Costa Rica and San Jose looks particularly grim and grey as we pull in just before nightfall. We´re back to the barbed-wire safety of our bed-and-breakfast.

Of all the countries we´ve visited, we´ve enjoyed Costa Rica the most. No question. It made us feel most at home.

Tomorrow morning, we fly south to the land of the Incas, Peru.