Costa Rica 2018

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