April 24, 2018....our last full day in Costa Rica.  We woke up - not to the howler monkeys this time - but to rain, so it was a soggy departure from Guayabo Lodge on our way to Volcan Turrialba.  With the rain, we might not see much of the volcano, but hey, it's a chance for another adventure in driving!

The smooth paved road gives way to something somewhat less smooth...

and some live obstacles...






that disappear into the fog....

This is the road to Volcan Turrialba National Park...the road continues to the right past the white car ahead....but we discover that road is closed due to the volcanic activity, so this is as close as we can get to the volcano....

but off to the west....there's a bit of blue sky over Volcan Irazu...which is dormant so that is cloud over Irazu, not smoke and steam...

and still plenty of cloud over Turrialba to the east...




but wait....yes, we get lucky with the weather once again....the clouds are lifting and we can see the summit now!

and those "clouds" to the left of the summit aren't clouds, that's smoke and steam....

daily life goes on as usual, even when you live on the side of an active volcano...

This taken from Google Maps, satellite version...the yellow dot shows where we were standing...that house right next to it is where this lady was hanging her laundry...

So there we are, Turrialba to the east...

Irazu to the west....

Again taken from Google Maps satellite, the two yellow dots show where we stood by each of the twin volcanoes...such a memorable moment for us to have near the end of our trip...with the magic moment when we saw Arenal at the beginning of it...very lucky to have seen them all...

we linger for one last look...will we ever stand next to an active volcano again?





so it's goodbye Turrialba...

Turrialba waves us goodbye...

back down into the Orosi valley...




with more live obstacles in the road...

and more Puente Angostos...one-lane bridges...

our destination on this day was the Hampton Inn in Alajuela near SJO (Juan Santamaria International Airport), where we would spend the night before boarding our flight to Los Angeles early the next morning....

But we are a bit hungry, and decide to stop at a "Panaderia, Cafeteria y Reposteria"..."Bakery, Coffee Shop, and Pastries"! 

All looks good, wonder what they all are...

Costa Rican corn cake....

"horns"....these are filled with Dulce de Leche...and they were good!  Coffee and pastries all around...and we're ready for the final driving leg of our trip...

Though WAZE wants to make sure our adventures aren't over yet...we end up taking a "shortcut"...

A cabbage patch that makes good use of land, if it isn't a rock, it's a cabbage!

And soon the traffic tells us we are back in a major city....the capital San Jose..

Fearless Tico on his motorbike...

Our last Costa Rican sunset...

a few hours' sleep...































and it's the end of our adventures in Costa Rica...




We enjoyed sharing our adventure with you and hope you leave us a comment.  If you are considering visiting Costa Rica, feel free to leave a comment with any questions you may have.  If you are not considering visiting Costa Rica, all we can say is that you should be!

Pura Vida to you all.

Cory, Jenni, & Michael

It's now down to the last 2 days of our vacation in Costa Rica.  We had seen Volcan Arenal at the beginning of our trip, but from its base.  We were now heading to Volcan Irazu, with the opportunity to see down into its crater from the top.  Not an active volcano, obviously.  But not far from Irazu is Volcan Turrialba, and that one is active.  So off we go...back up to Cerro de la Muerte on the Pan American highway, then north/north east through Cartago to Irazu, then east to our hotel near Turrialba.

And what's another day in Costa Rica without some adventures in driving.....narrow road, steep drops, some with guardrails, but only some...

Slow-moving trucks on two-lane mountain roads..at least this one is painted in Costa Rican flag colours!

road construction delays....mountain clouds...

cattle...yes cattle...on narrow mountain roads...

even city traffic as we drive through Cartago...

And we need coffee!...so we stop at this place with a huge choreador outside (the traditional Costa Rican method of making coffee), and "Tarrazu" is Costa Rica's most famous coffee region....but it was closed unfortunately...

so... no coffee for you....but we arrive safely - we never felt unsafe in Costa Rica - at Volcan Irazu...

Just like our raccoons, those coatis love being around people...since we generally leave something behind for them to eat...certainly under a picnic table there's always a morsel or two...

a brief walk and we get our first look at the Irazu crater...

and a bit further along...a small blue/green lake at the bottom of the crater....similar colour to the glacial lakes we see here in BC & Alberta...but from a very different source of sediment...

Cory wants a better look....notice the sweater - at around 11,000 feet, it's no longer 36C...

you can almost imagine the explosive power that created that crater and lake...

Our first look ever at a volcano crater....gotta take a selfie...

really seems more like a moonscape in some places...

The drive back down from Irazu reminds us that not everyone is as fortunate as we are.....

and that even though we felt perfectly safe, most of the homes are fenced in, many with barbed wire, even those homes that don't seem to have much to lose...

Jenni pointed out that all those red flowers are amarylisses, or amarylissi....

Our stop for this night will be Guayabo Lodge, near the town of Turrialba....in the small red circle in the middle of this map...close to the two volcanoes..

and it's coffee country!

As we continue to enjoy the gardens of the Guayabo Hotel...

the receptionist runs up to us and excitedly tells us that the clouds have lifted and we can see Volcan Turrialba!

And there it is!  OK, not quite as majestic as Arenal and not quite so close as Irazu...but that's not cloud above that mountain, that's smoke & steam!  That's an active volcano!  And again we just stood and watched...

After enjoying that look at smokin' Turrialba, we got in the car and went looking for supper...we came across a soda, Rancho del Sapito - well this was much bigger than your average soda but we still were able to order some casados.

It was also an operating farm, as the clouds descend from the mountain tops..

 raising their own chickens, pigs, cattle, even trout...

and sheep!

nice flowers too!  ....maybe it's the fresh manure they use....

and not to mention they make their very own and famous throughout Costa Rica, Turrialba cheese...really good cheese, similar to Halloumi in saltiness and texture, but a bit more crumbly....we enjoyed it!

Then back to our hotel, the Guayabo Lodge...

just in time for sunset over Volcan Turrialba...with just a small puff of smoke rising from it...

but then, THIS!  OMG!!!!

nah, not lava, just flare from my camera lens....hee-hee....fooled you!......

The next day would be our last full day in Costa Rica, when we would get closer to Volcan Turrialba, enjoy yet more driving adventure, and discover, too late, far too late, the goodies inside a Panaderia....

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