more Butterfly Garden

This beautful butterfly looks like the blue one above when his wings are opened up --- he had just come out of his cocoon and Mom told me that she read that he is taking in fluid through his proboscis to make his wings more rigid before he can fly. We came back after our rainforest walk and he was no longer on the cocoon but surprised us when we noticed him sitting on the shelf very close by.
Two of the smaller orange ones landed on Mom -- COOOL!!!!!!!!!!
Aren't they beautiful?

Rainforest Walk

Ella took this one!!! We'll get her trained up for the paparazzi yet!!!

This little rainforest hike that is on the grounds of the Arenal Lodge - we saw monkeys playing in the trees and lots of pretty flowers and plants - orchids even -- growing wild!!!

Our Deck at Arenal Lodge

So here is our view and a few other pics on or from our deck at the lodge.

Quite amazing.

When we first got there in the afternoon, we could see the volcano pretty clearly and as the afternoon wore on, the clouds moved in and at some points, we couldn't see it at all - just clouds. At dinnertime, we asked our waiter about this and he said, "it will be seen clearly in 3 or 4 hours." And then it rained and we thought we were going to be out of luck - in fact, after Ella fell asleep at dinner, we headed back to our room and went to be around 9. Bummer. We didn't see any lava flow...

Well then at about 11, we had an eruption - unfortunately it was Ella... her spaghetti dinner didn't settle well. So while I was up cleaning her up, Mom suggested I look and see if there was anything to see ----OMIGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! God sure works in mysterious ways because if Ella hadn't gotten sick, we would have slept right through it. Our waiter was correct. We could see the volcano clearly and even with a light orange glow at the top of the cone. Then as we watched, small streams of orange began making their way down the side of the volcano. I so wish that I could tell you that I have pictures of it but we didn't even attempt it, knowing it would do no justice to what we were watching.

So, we each grabbed a blanket and cuddled up in the chairs on the deck - me with Ella wrapped tightly in with me and then a bath towel between us and the garbage can just inches away. She threw up about every 5 minutes for about 3 hours... poor thing... but in between we oohed and aahed at what we were seeing. I guess if you have to be up with a sick child, there's no better way to do it. And seriously, we would have missed it had she not gotten sick!!! God is good, eh? (the Canadian neighbors are rubbing off on me!!! :))

Mom tried to wake Meg around midnight and she wouldn't budge. When Ella began to dose off and seem like maybe she wasn't going to throw up on such a regular basis, I put her in bed and then pulled Meg out of bed. Poor thing. It was probably about 3 by then and she couldn't even keep her eyes open. I pulled her out of bed and onto the deck and tried to show her.... she doesn't remember it at all.... Ella on the other hand, can't stop talking about it!!! And neither can Mom or I!!!

more Arenal Lodge

So here are a few pics of one of the gardens at Arenal Lodge. We saw many birds and flowers and the girls just loved the chance to run a bit.

The climate here is so much different from where our condo is in Playa Hermosa. At the condo it is very dry and at Arenal, it was very humid and a bit cooler. And the flora and fauna were more of what I think of when I think of Costa Rica. Very green and many many flowers and vines, and big trees with huge root systems, etc.

Arenal Lodge

In this picture, Ella is facing the volcano and the building up above there is the lodge.
That's our silver Peugot - trusty lil' fella - parked in front of our room with the volcano in the background.
Ella marching out through the field to run off some energy after sitting in the car all morning. We arrived at the lodge around 2:30.
This is the sign at the top of the entrance road - and they aren't a-kiddin'!!! It was tight and twisty and so covered over with trees and vines and everything you think of growing in Costa Rica.

OMIGOSH!!!! If you are ever so blessed as to have an opportunity to visit Costa Rica, do not miss the chance to see Arenal Volcano. It is the most amazing thing!!!! And I recommend this place - Arenal Lodge. http://www.arenal.net/arenal-lodge/ It's not the fanciest - it definitely needs some updating - but I don't know if the view can be beat. It is amazing - did I say that already? Oh - and you must get a junior suite - worth every penny!!!

All of these pictures are taken from the grounds of this amazing place... I have a whole post planned on just the view from our deck.

This part of CR was much more humid and green as you can see from the pics...

Coati

So right after I almost rear-ended the Turismo bus stopped on the road, we saw these cute little guys!!! They're almost like raccoons but different - ya know, we're in Costa Rica...

Anyway, it was pretty obvious that they knew that those beings in the cars have food because they were not shy!!!! Mom and I had visions of a Jack Hannah out-take and one of them

crawling into her window for a kiss and a snack!

Lunch in Tilaran

So after we moved the car, we saw this neat little place for lunch - it's called a "soda" -- they are everywhere!!! Seriously, Mom and I decided that anyone can open a soda. They serve "typico tico casados" - beans, rice, chicken or pork, maybe an avocado or plantain - and some other side dishes like quesadillas, tacos, etc. What we liked about this one was the declaration: "English Spoken Here." The menu was in both english and spanish which was great because then you can not only know what you're ordering but you can also learn some new words!!!

So Mom and I both had the chicken casado - and we ordered in spanish, thank you very much!!! And the girls had quesadillas. Mom ordered a "Coca Light" - diet coke - and the guy had to run out somewhere to get it!!!

So the girls had too much Fresca and we had to stop for a pee on the side of the road - which is no longer the Pan American highway but a skinnier but just as well paved beginning to get windy road... did that make sense? And if you look closely at that bottom picture - which was taken where we stopped for the pee, you can make out Volcan Arenal in the distance. This was one of our first glimpses of it!!! The lake is Lake Arenal - how creative! - it's a man-made lake and that's about all I know about it at this point.