We rented a car, which after a minor service call to tighten an electrical connection, took us to the Arenal volcano a few hours outside of San Jose for a couple of days. Here are some notes Ray took at the time:

We got to Juan Santamaria Airport at 4:30 PM, early in fact, and went to the car rental hall where Advantage had no office but Dave shouted out "Advantage" and somebody pointed us to the Economy desk with whom they code share or something. I had found this amazing deal on the Internet, $10.50 per day. They had bullied their way to the top of some price comparison chart by not mentioning a $17 insurance charge per day, but at $27 they were still cheaper than the reputable companies and after they had lectured us about how much we needed a cell phone in Costa Rica $2.50 a day except you have to talk a minimum number of minutes (I am getting a real idea of the corporate culture there at Economy/Advantage) per day.

Anyway I was thinking the lights were a little dim as we drove off, and when we got to Hotel Pasandé the car completely went dead while the owners were opening the garage. This little guy came out wearing an Economy shirt that probably had an embroidered patch reading "Earl" on the front but it was too dark to see and he replaced the battery and then it wouldn't start so he jiggled all the fuses and then it started and then it didn't and then he tightened the cable and then it did and we got it into the garage. I wasn't real optimistic about this vehicle. No wonder they want you to carry a cell phone. This car had 144000K on it; I was kind of hoping when I looked at it that there might be a tenths place.

Our first glimpse of the entire Arenal volcano, giving off a little bit of steam, taken just as we were leaving. The whole time until then the top of it was covered by clouds. We stayed at Tabacon, a hotel and hot springs resort built on the site of a village destroyed when Arenal erupted.

On the way to the volcano, we visited the Fortuna waterfall.

No amorous scenes, please.

Fish in the pools at the base of the waterfall.

Plants in the rain forest on the walk down to the waterfall. The whole of Costa Rica looks like the anteroom to a doctor's office: all the plants that you ever see by the receptionists desk -- the draecenas, the rubber trees, the philodendrons and bamboos and ficuses -- this is where they are all from. They are trash trees growing by the side of the road, and of course in long rows in farms, for export.

Various insects at our resort next to the Arenal volcano. There were not a lot of insects. In the morning after everybody is gone on their day's activities, guys come around with huge blowers filled with poison and cover the entire hotel resort with clouds of toxic gas. It's kind of like the situation with the plants -- this is where the plants are from, and this is where the gardeners who spray your chemlawn with clouds of toxic gas come from. They don't make any attempt to protect themselves from the chemical fumes here, either.

The hot springs resort has two rivers, carefully maintained at 104 degrees, heated by the volcano. There are various waterfalls and pools that you can sit in. It's quite a nice setting. We never availed ourselves of the extensive list of services provided by the spa.

A sugar cane field on the way back from Arenal.

An incredibly friendly guy selling "pipas frias" -- fresh cold coconuts hacked open to order so you could drink their water through a straw.

The topiary garden of Zarcero.

Here, in the church behind the topiary garden, a statue of Jesus holds an "air cross".

On to Caño Negro