Arenal Volcano and Rainforest

It is April 16th as I write this.  It has been 6 weeks since I've been home from my wonderful 2 weeks in Costa Rica.  If my computer wasn't so slow in handling uploading pictures and internet connections, the endurance test I've put you through with yet another batch of holiday pictures might be over now.  Computer troubles as well have slowed me down. But I am determined to share the best of my photographs with you.

Today, a trip to the Arenal Volcano.

On our long trip through the surrounding hills, we saw this odd little guy, somewhat like our North American raccoon,  a Coatimundi.

 

The Arenal Volcano is a sight to behold. Rare for tourists to see without cloud cover,
we would, in fact, be amongst the lucky few to see it in its entirety the next day.

 

We spent our afternoon at the wonderful resort of Tabacon, 

a landscaped jungle if ever there was one, a myriad of wonders.

My dear friend Connie and I were stunned by the enormity of it all

There were so many places to bathe in the warm spring waters.

 

As civilized as it all seemed, one could imagine how prehistoric it really was.

Plants grew up above us as if we were Lilliputians.

I was stunned by the magnificence and complexity of something as simple as a leaf!

The air fairly vibrated with life.

I couldn't turn without finding something new and raw to take a picture of.

Every moment seemed heightened, elevated, the variable of colour and form.

You just know that this is the only chance you have to take it all in.

 

And you don't want to miss anything,

this crazy dream

this chance of a lifetime,

 

where flowers grow as they did a million years ago,

 

whose rubber-bowled "petals" catch rainwater

or dangle a complex chord

each one brighter than the last.

So many variations on a theme

 

that it boggles the mind to try and sort one from the other.

The spikes of flaming brilliance abound

 

and one can hardly breathe for the shock on the senses.

 

Tripping through this veritable catalogue of plants and flowers, it is hard,  in retrospect,

 to understand how anyone could take this lush abundance for granted.

But, inevitably, we do, for it is our human nature to adapt.

Yet once we return home

We realize how rare and wonderful it all truly is

all of it,

Even the lowliest bug,

All of it...