Today it's time for the reversal of our previous journey, so the boat first to Pavona, then the two buses to San Jose. A couple of strange things happened on the Cariari to San Jose bus. Firstly we pulled off into a layby on the long hill up to the central plateau when the driver carried out repairs to the engine. He then asked me to photograph him at work. Presumably he wanted some proof to show his employer.
The other odd thing was as we were approaching San Jose a man got up at the front of the bus and started either preaching to the assembled company or selling something to us. Personally I have never been able to tell the difference. Actually I realised that he was doing both when a few people gave money in exchange for a religious book with the stars and stripes on the front.
Our last journey of the day was by taxi to the Alajuela Backpackers Hostel, in Alajuela. We are staying here for two nights in order to get a view of the recently active Poas volcano. We will take the local bus up there tomorrow. Meanwhile here is the view from the rooftop bar of the Backpackers.
This gives you an idea of the landscape leading up towards the volcano. It is verdant pasture with cattle ranching and fruit growing, especially strawberries. In fact quite reminiscent of Switzerland. There were even a lot of chalet style houses with ninety degree roofs and long overhanging eaves. In this case it must be to cope with the excessive rain as they never see snow here.
Since the eruptions in 2016 the National park has been closed, but four months ago it re-opened with strictly controlled visitor conditions. Groups of 52 people are allowed every 20 minutes. It's necessary to book in advance via the shakey website the day before. We were unsuccessful with this but discovered that booking in with the bus driver and your passport also worked.
There was stiff walk up from the bus stop to the point our group was assembled and given our compulsory colour coded hard hats. We had to retreat and wait another ten minutes because the mountain was"heating up".
The main concern was the toxic gases particularly sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid. An adjacent lake in an old crater has a Ph reading of 0 and is the most acidic natural lake in the world. It cannot support any living organisms. We were given a strict safety briefing (run to one of the concrete shelters if it goes up). The sort of advice that goes along with "assume the brace position " on an aeroplane. Well meaning but pretty pointless. So our yellow hatted group set off.
Now look down into the active crater of the mighty Poas volcano.
Here are a few more of roughly the same thing but getting hotter.
Where no man dare walk.
The bus got us back to Alajuela for 2.30 so we had time to look round the town. It has a very Costa Rican feel to it. The Central square is where the action is on a Saturday afternoon.
There is a steel band playing to the right side of the picture and all the rest of the folk are dancing away.
All that dancing gave us a thirst for culture so we sated this in the ex-fortress, ex-prison present museum. This museum concentrates on that period of C19 that I have alluded to before with the defeat of the American filibusters and when Costa Rica effectively gained its independence. Juan Sanamaria was a drummer boy aged 17 who set fire to a house to draw the enemy fire, thereby sacrificing his own life but the result was an away win to the Costa Ricans. His name is commemorated in the naming of San Jose International Airport.
The other prominent feature of the square is, of course the Cathedral the facade of which you can see in the shot below.
And mass in full swing.
A final picture of Alajuela before we move on to Arenal. This is the inside courtyard of one of the traditional grand buildings in the square and is now part of the University.
The other odd thing was as we were approaching San Jose a man got up at the front of the bus and started either preaching to the assembled company or selling something to us. Personally I have never been able to tell the difference. Actually I realised that he was doing both when a few people gave money in exchange for a religious book with the stars and stripes on the front.
Our last journey of the day was by taxi to the Alajuela Backpackers Hostel, in Alajuela. We are staying here for two nights in order to get a view of the recently active Poas volcano. We will take the local bus up there tomorrow. Meanwhile here is the view from the rooftop bar of the Backpackers.
This gives you an idea of the landscape leading up towards the volcano. It is verdant pasture with cattle ranching and fruit growing, especially strawberries. In fact quite reminiscent of Switzerland. There were even a lot of chalet style houses with ninety degree roofs and long overhanging eaves. In this case it must be to cope with the excessive rain as they never see snow here.
Since the eruptions in 2016 the National park has been closed, but four months ago it re-opened with strictly controlled visitor conditions. Groups of 52 people are allowed every 20 minutes. It's necessary to book in advance via the shakey website the day before. We were unsuccessful with this but discovered that booking in with the bus driver and your passport also worked.
There was stiff walk up from the bus stop to the point our group was assembled and given our compulsory colour coded hard hats. We had to retreat and wait another ten minutes because the mountain was"heating up".
The main concern was the toxic gases particularly sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid. An adjacent lake in an old crater has a Ph reading of 0 and is the most acidic natural lake in the world. It cannot support any living organisms. We were given a strict safety briefing (run to one of the concrete shelters if it goes up). The sort of advice that goes along with "assume the brace position " on an aeroplane. Well meaning but pretty pointless. So our yellow hatted group set off.
Now look down into the active crater of the mighty Poas volcano.
Here are a few more of roughly the same thing but getting hotter.
Where no man dare walk.
The bus got us back to Alajuela for 2.30 so we had time to look round the town. It has a very Costa Rican feel to it. The Central square is where the action is on a Saturday afternoon.
There is a steel band playing to the right side of the picture and all the rest of the folk are dancing away.
All that dancing gave us a thirst for culture so we sated this in the ex-fortress, ex-prison present museum. This museum concentrates on that period of C19 that I have alluded to before with the defeat of the American filibusters and when Costa Rica effectively gained its independence. Juan Sanamaria was a drummer boy aged 17 who set fire to a house to draw the enemy fire, thereby sacrificing his own life but the result was an away win to the Costa Ricans. His name is commemorated in the naming of San Jose International Airport.
The other prominent feature of the square is, of course the Cathedral the facade of which you can see in the shot below.
And mass in full swing.
A final picture of Alajuela before we move on to Arenal. This is the inside courtyard of one of the traditional grand buildings in the square and is now part of the University.
I am reading them all this time and enjoying
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