Walk up the Volcano
Our first stop out of La Fortuna was a hike up the mountain towards a former lava flow. Most of the hike was quite easy. It was more difficult when we got to the actual lava rocks. About halfway up, someone spotted a Tucan. From our perch, with binoculars, we could see it perched on a bare branch quite a distance away. I am tickled to have spotted it, since I was suspicious … I didn’t really think I would see one.
At one point on our walk up to the lava flow Ricardo stopped the group at a bush. He gave us some informatio about the indiginous people of Costa Rica and how they lived. The bush he was standing in front of was use as a dye by taking separating the leaf and the stem and squeezing the yellow liquid out of the stem. He asked for a volunteer, looked at me and said “you are a good volunteer”. He asked me to put the leaf of the bush between my lips and the squeezed the yellow stuff on my pinkie finger, making it yellowish orangish. He said this is the way indiginous people becalmed engaged! After a little yucking it up, he carried on with his talk, although one point he stumbled on his words and said that he was a bit nervous now after the engagement. It was pretty funny and several people asked to see my yellow fingernail.
Although there isn’t much of a chance getting run over by lava, there is still a chance of getting caught in an explosion of toxic gas (that has a name/term I can’t remember at the moment). As recently as a couple of years ago a couple of hikers and a guide were on the mountain and this type of gas eruption happened and, although the guide got them to safety, they all died from the poisonous gas eating the from the inside out.