Costa Rica - Arenal Observatory Lodge

The Arenal volcano fully revealed. The volcano is still very active, although scientists believe the next erruption will not happen for another 340 years. The last erruption wiped out two towns and killed hundreds of people.

We joined a guided tour around the base of the Arenal volcano. The whole area was razed when the volcano errupted 60 years ago, but since then the jungle has been reborn in the rich soil. We stopped at a tree that had vines straight out of Tarzan.

A wild tarantula. They are way cuter in person, and not nearly as deadly as Hollywood makes them out to be

We stopped for lunch in the valley between Arenal's two mountains.

As it was the middle of the rainy season, a huge thunderstorm soon drifted over us. The heavy showers were quite peaceful at the start, but conditions soon worsened. Our guide was the first to notice that the small stream we had crossed at the bottom of the valley was changing dramatically.

When we first crossed the river, the water was halfway up to our knees and crystal clear. When I made my second crossing back - a couple minutes after the start of the rainfall - the water was dark brown, close to my waist level and nearly impossible to cross.

I later found out that we were lucky to have our guide with us; the area we were in was notorious for flash flooding, and if we had stuck around too much later there is a chance we could have been swept away. Flash flooding was a foreign concept to me until this trip, but seeing the danger in person was quite sobering. It's hard to imagine, but rivers can turn to deathtraps within minutes if you are in the wrong place.

Making our way back to the hotel property

There are three waterfalls on the property. We followed a river until we came accross this one.

The jungle around the hotel is dense and quite varied

The arenal volcano at night, as seen from the hotel balcony