Arenal Volcano

Just after our return to San Jose we were booked for a full day tour to the Arenal Volcano, which is the most active one in Costa Rica. Mario our driver picked us up in a minivan, and then we rounded up the other tourists Mr. Klaus and two America ladies (gandma with granddaughter), which already took an eternity in the Friday rush hour in San Jose.
On our way we made a stop in Sarchi (you can see all the tours if you enlarge the map on the right), which is famous for the biggest decorated oxcart in the world. Slightly far streched, but it was nice to have a break from Marios driving and the church was pretty too. Later we stopped for lunch as well, where we could try to make pictures about colibris drinking from artificial flowers. On the way we were entertained by stories about Costa Rican agriculture and everyday life. Maybe more to that later.
Finally we arrived in La Fortuna, and got to see the volcano, which does look impressive. Mario assured us that it is not dangerous, although very active and that it does not really spit lava, as we might have thought from the pictures on the brochures, but hot stones, which glow in the night. Also he said, that we would be very lucky to see the cone in its entirety, because it is always surrounded by clouds. And so it was, but as said we we were not too sad about it.
In La Fortuna we finally got to see the touristy Costa Rica, which we have been missing in San Jose and Bataan. The area's speciality besides the volcano are hot springs. Mario took us to a brand new and very luxurious spa complex, were we could enjoy masses of different pools amidts colonial style buildings and an amazing natural setting. There was barely anybody apart from us.
Of course we had to try the in-pool-bar even though it was raining and of course i managed to order the most girly cocktail of all (i dont know cocktails...). Although we kept an eye on Arenal, we didn't manage to see the top all day.
After the dinner we went closer to the volcano to try to see some firespitting. So we waited in the dark with all other tourists and then after 30 minutes we actually saw something. It was like as if somebody would have thrown two red bicycle lights off the top, then it was cloudy and dark again. We somehow missed the great eureka moment, but we tried anyways...
On the way back we were trying to sleep and Mario tried to keep us awake with constantly changing the pressure on the accelerator, which made the little Hunday bus with disel engine go like a kangoroo. All in all it was a nice trip, but if we would not have been keen on getting the jungle smell out of our skin in the hot springs, it would have been a little boring.