Poas Volcano National Park

We left Hotel Mango and drove North through the mountains (on quite a hairy road that Laura, who is doing the driving, took surprisingly calmly!) to Volcan Poas National Park. Undeterred by the signs alerting us to possible danger around the volcano, and "keeping calm" as instructed by the same signs, we took a walk along the trail to see the Poas volcano crater. It was pretty impressive - a large crater with a milky coloured lake and we were also able to see a fumarole spewing out smoke at the edge of the volcano. Solana was a bit worried that it was going to "derupt" and didn't want to look at it much - I think maybe we went a bit overboard with the info about what volcanoes are/do! After steering Solana away from the overpriced products in the gift shop, we got back on the road. We saw an impressive waterfall and some great views of the countryside and hills along the way, then we stopped at a tiny roadside restaurant for lunch. It was basically a dining room with 3 tables outside someone’s house and, finally, provided us with a cheap meal. We drove on to the Sarapiqui rainforest area, where we are now staying for a few days at Chilamate Rainforest Ecolodge. I had chosen this place to stay whilst we were still at home, so the pressure was on me – but happily it lives up to expectations and is a lovely place to stay. We have 2 neighbouring rooms, with a massive outside area with seating & hammocks. There is a river running nearby that lulls you to sleep at night and brings more bird life. We went for a walk by the river once we’d got settled and we saw more birds, including a large flock of egrets, and a couple of baby caiman (like crocodiles). Back at the lodge we relaxed with a beer and mani picante (delicious spicy peanuts), watching and listening to the jungle as darkness fell. Happily, we had a gecko on our ceiling to help eat the less welcome mosquitos...Read more