We had a nice relaxing start to our day. We just caught up on our blogs (homework for Jaxon), had breakfast from a bakery and hung out with some of the others. Oh yes…. bought drinks and snacks to take in our hike in the afternoon.

We hiked up as far as the lava flow of the Arenal volcano. I am not saying we walked the whole way. A bus drove us part way up.You are not permitted to travel any higher toward the top for safety reasons. It was not a long hike but extremely steep.

The Arenal volcano first erupted in 1968. Before that it was just a hill. Every year it has kept growing by 4-5 metres just from escaping gasses. It is not a volcano like the ones in Hawaii that spew lava that runs. It is an explosive type that blows great huge chunks sometimes as big as cars along with hot gasses. The last major eruption was in 2010. It is still considered as active because those gasses present always as a little clouds stop the crown. Most of the time you cannot see even half of the volcano because is shrouded in “real” clouds.

After our descent, we went for a bit of a hike through a rainforest to the hot water river and enjoyed our drinks etc. The river was totally full of people sitting in it…. reminiscent of the Merritt Mountain Music Festival when everyone sat in the Coldwater River to cool off. This one was like sitting in a warm bath that didn’t ever get cold. No one wanted to leave.

Below are picture of us sitting in the hot water river