Don Juan's Farm

The morning started with a short hike. The resort was poked up into a box canyon. Behind the resort was rainforest and a short trail. A small waterfall was promised, but what was fun was watching the Leaf Cutter Ants using a cyclone fence as a highway, and we're very much in Toucan country.

It was time to leave. This short hike would be it for the adventure today. Whenever there is a big driving day, there is not too much other activity. Everyone on the tour is over 50, most in their 60's and 70's. One guy called it the Geezer Tour. We were on our way to La Fortuna where we would stay at the foot of an active volcano.

There was a moment during the drive where Sammy decided the pictures might not be better later. He pulled the bus over and we got our first look at mount Arenal. Funny. I've seen at lot of volcanos. But none look more stereotypical than Arenal. It's an almost perfect cone shape all the way up. We were told that it was unusual to see it not shrouded in clouds.

La Fortuna was on the other side of the mountain. So while I give Sammy time to get us there, I thought I'd do an aside and talk a little about the politics of Costa Rica. There's a President, two Vice Presidents, and a Legislative Assembly of 57 people.

But the most-interesting thing about Costa Rican politics is incumbents can't run for re-election. So if you're President, and want to be President some more, you have to surrender the office at the end of your term, and you can run again for the same office in four years. What this means is it's much harder to be an entrenched politician. The only way I can see is to always be running for a different office. (Which happens a lot here in California.) But this means it's easier to get rid of the bums, too.

Ok, back to the bus. Sammy pulled into an organic farm owned by a fella named Don Juan. (Really, no joke. Although it did get a few giggles from our group.) Don Juan is a retired school principal. He is spending his retirement helping feed many families with the food he raises on two acres. He's doing quite a lot with the land he has. He even has a bio-digester which makes compost and methane. The latter is used as a primary fuel source on the farm. Our lunch would be cooked with this methane.

After lunch, it was back in the bus. There was a short stop in the town of La Fortuna before we arrived at our next resort. We were on the north side of Arenal, and much closer. If this baby blew during the night we'd have had just enough time to take a picture before the pyroclastic cloud shredded us. (Hey, we wanted adventure!) We were still in luck. Tall mountains have a habit of creating their own weather. Arenal was still completely in the clear except for some venting of steam at the summit. The light on this side was also much better than earlier in the day.

With all the hiking, travel, and seeing the farm, the down-time this afternoon was welcomed. Most of the group ended up in a swimming pool where we could cool off and order drinks. Dinner was in a dining room with huge picture windows facing the volcano. But it was dark already. We would have the commanding view of the mountain tomorrow at breakfast.

First, second, and third magnitude stars were out. Having learned a few constellations as a Boy Scout, I spotted a few I knew, and many stars to the south I had never seen. Jupiter and Mars were out near the moon. Unfortunately, there was no hot red lava running down the side of the volcano.