One cautionary note for anyone heading to Costa Rica near Christmas time: book a car well in advance! When we arrived the night of December 28, 1996, there were no cars to be rented. For reasons I still don't quite understand, we were told that there was a slim chance of a car being available when the Avis rental booth opened early the next morning. So at about 3:30 a.m. we bolted out of bed and rushed back to the airport via taxi. (We were staying about 20 minutes outside of San José in a suburb called Alajuela, at the comfortable La Guaria hotel.) As luck would have it, we scored a compact rental car! We drove back to the hotel, ate a delicious victory breakfast, and headed north...

One of the great things about traveling in Costa Rica is the proximity of many fascinating sites to the capital city of San José. It was only a couple hours' drive (through some beautiful countryside) from there to our first destination, Volcán Arenal. We were soon in the town of La Fortuna, less than a mile from the volcano itself, where we stopped to have lunch. It was a very pleasant little village, with several restaurants, crowded with tourists, serving fantastic arróz con pollo. We were amazed at the abundant bird life - a small precursor to the fantastic wildlife experience that awaited us in the jungle around the volcano. Multitudes of beautiful tropical birds darted in and out of the restaurant seating area as we ate. There were several places to stay in La Fortuna, but our friend Jay had a hand-drawn map to a campground that was supposedly situated right on the side of the volcano. How could we pass that up? Sure enough, we found it in short order - it was called Jungla, Los Lagos, y Senderos (meaning "jungle, lakes, and trails"), and they had hotel rooms as well as some camping space up near a couple of secluded lakes. It appeared to be mostly occupied by locals. We drove in to the camping area and set up our tent. Somewhere above us the volcano loomed in the clouds...

The slopes of the volcano were teeming with beautiful flowers and exotic wildlife. Parrots, toucans, and other tropical birds were frequently seen and always within earshot. My friend Jay, a bird enthusiast, was overwhelmed. Each morning scores of chestnut-mandibled toucans alit in the fruit trees to feed, affording close viewing of their strange behaviors. Reptilian life was also abundant - we saw numerous lizards and snakes, including a poisonous eyelash viper that was being shooed off the trail by a concerned park ranger. The most unexpected wildlife encounter was not a visual experience, but an audio one: In the early pre-dawn hours, as daylight approached and we were peacefully slumbering in our tents, something out in the jungle began a long, deep roar! It was answered by another roar from a different location! I felt as if I had awakened in a prehistoric time, and at any moment giant people-eating dinosaurs were about to tear through our tent. The roaring continued for several minutes, and was repeated again a short time later. It was unnerving to say the least! Turns out the roaring was coming from the enlarged throats of small howler monkeys practicing their morning routine. What a trip!

Towering somewhere above it all was the cone of active Volcán Arenal. We saw postcards of fantastic eruptions showering glowing rocks down on the slopes of the mountain, but we'd have to take their word for it - thick clouds kept the summit hidden through the majority of our stay at the campground. But the evidence of volcanic activity was all around us. There were numerous blocky lava flows that cut through the dense jungle, some still emitting steam and warm to the touch. They were only a short walk from the campground. When had these flows been active? And suddenly, unexpectedly, a incredible BOOOOM shook the ground and brought us to attention! We looked up and wondered what to do next, and then heard the sound of falling rocks up above us in the cloudy distance. Yikes! For the rest of our stay we were on our toes, and we heard the loud booming noises two more times. Finally, on our second night, the clouds parted enough to catch a glimpse of the action. A thundering boom occurred at about 3 a.m., and I jumped out of my tent and looked up towards the top of the mountain. For a few minutes I was treated to the sight of glowing rocks rolling down out of the clouds. I woke my friends and we all gazed up, awestruck. We left later that morning, incredibly satisfied with our experience and looking forward to our next stop...