Sunday 5.22 Volcano Arenal, Costa Rica

well i made it and it was clear! i got some killer shots of the volcano. unfortunately the little internet cafe wont be able to let me post any photos. this dialup line is going so slow it would take me all day to set up the software on here and it just keeps locking up. -it´s giving me some warning in spanish and i keep deleting it... ´

i left Jaco at about 11am yesterday and drove straight through as fast as my little 4 wheel drive could carry me. i wanted to get here to scout out the volcano before dark. it rained thick and gray the last two hours so my hopes of seeing anything were growing slim. then as i rounded the Lake Arenal the clouds cleared and the sun came out to reveal the volcano. it stayed clear all night and i got some shots of eruptions - sounding sort of like a mixture of thunder, explosion, jet engine, rumbling and air forced through a large pipe. this all at the same time. - some ´explosions´ are accompanied by smoke or lava spilling down the side. in the daytime it looks like ash or smoke rolling down the mountain, but at night its like a huge smelter pouring buckets of red hot molten fire. you watch the top glow and a small mound forms then it runs down. i saw one ´eruption´ where it exploded into the air. a large wet fireball blown up over the top of the cone. i drove around the rutted, potholed dirt roads till almost midnight finding different spots with competing angles. i was worn out.

this morning at 5am howler monkeys began screaming right behind my open window. a small band live in a tree just outside my room. you can hear them screaming to each other through the valley. ´they are reported to be heard 3 miles away.´ my bed of 70 feet was well within range. so, yes i got up and took some shots of those too.

now im downtown la Fortuna, near arenal. its raining so i will just relax and work on that book.

in the morning i plan to drive back around the lake to Monteverde for the rainforest visit. no other plans now. stay tuned because i dont know what im doing.

from the Volcano. 'skip