Volcanoes: The Perfect Playgrounds

Assuming, of course, you're not there during an eruption, I can think of no better place to play than on the slopes of a drowsing volcano.  We played in the hot springs at Arenal Volcano for hours over Thanksgiving week-end; we played so long that some of us got squinky-eyed.

Oh, sure, you have to put up with the occasional mild earthquake (like the one that woke my husband at 4 a.m. one morning of our stay).  But, if, like me, you're a heavy sleeper, even those aren't too disturbing.  And there's the smoke, drifting ash, and occasional glow of the lava flows, but those were on the far side of the mountain.  Really, we had nothing to worry about.

And last week-end, just before the big earthquake, we went to Irazu Volcano.  It's much sleepier than Arenal, and hasn't done anything interesting since the 1960s when, at one point, it colluded with a passing storm to

 rain five inches of mud and ash on the surrounding area.  We were there under much more favorable conditions:  a cold, biting wind that froze the blood in our veins, brilliant sunshine, an unlimited supply of sand for digging in, and a coatimundi.  And in case you're wondering, those claws and teeth are actually much longer and sharper than they look in the picture.  And even with the marvelous safety afforded by the "zoom" feature on my camera, I was frankly just too darn close to this animal, which proved itself to be quite bad tempered by snapping at a tourist (not me).  Frankly, I can't say that I blame it.

On the way up to Irazu, we stopped at the most remarkable restaurant:  the Linda Vista, smack dab in the middle of nowhere on the hill up towards the summit of the volcano.  It touts itself as being the restaurant at the highest elevation in Central America (and I'd have to get the guidebook to know how much that is.  I'm not getting the guide book.), but there's a small restaurant at the volcano itself, a good bit higher up the mountain, so I think the Linda Vista loses out on that count.  But what it does have is more than 30,000 business cards tacked to its walls, along with close to $100 in small bills from various countries around the world; napkin doodles; the occasional newspaper front page; and a few expired passports.  I saw memorabilia from Germany, China, Korea, Brazil, Tennessee, France, Ohio, Mexico, and every other country in Central and South America.  They also had a large Nativity scene on the floor in one room which portrayed the Wise Men offering their gifts to a chicken.  I question the theology implicit in this display, but I can certainly understand the desire to placate such an obnoxious animal.

And tomorrow, we're heading off for Arenal again for several days, and we'll be staying at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, which, in part, houses a National Geographic volcano observatory.  It also has paths leading to hot springs and along lava flows old enough to be solid but young enough to glow red at night.  This trip also happens to be over my birthday -- can you think of anywhere better to spend your birthday than a place where the tiniest tectonic shift will result in tons of ash and lava raining down on your head?  I couldn't either.

But, the hotel assures us they're in a "low danger" area.  So, if you hear of more disasters in Costa Rica (heaven forbid), keep an eye out for us being airlifted out by helicopter.  We'll be sure to wave at the camera!