The obligatory airport photo.
Casa Ridgway, the Quaker-affiliated hostel where we were supposed to stay on arrival at San Jose, but due to some zany mixup they lost our reservation and sent us packing to the Backpacker Hostel. It's just as well-- the Backpacker accomodations were a little less Soviet.
Phalanx of lounge chairs at the Backpacker Hostel in San Jose.
Our digs at the Backpacker Hostel.
The mascot of the Backpacker Hostel is a surfing parrot who was tragically felled by a supernova.
Casa Ridgway tried to make amends for botching our reservation by whipping up a series of cheerful murals painted by San Jose children. It was a nice gesture, we thought.
A journalist interviews an area woman concerned by a seemingly unchecked rash of local wall painting.
This section of the mural commemorates paramedics who are into rock climbing.
The theme of this section of mural is clearly "Don't worry, be happy."
The Park Central in San Jose: known nationwide for its insect-esque gazebo and its pickpockets.
"Chino" means curly-haired in Spanish and a "carniceria" is a meat shop. Get your curly chicken here.
A volcano, erupting for your entertainment, is 35 km thataway.
Owen ponders the view from the room at the Arenal Observatory Lodge.
Cathy ponders the other view from the Arenal Observatory Lodge room.
Arenal Lake. Man-made as it turns out. When we saw a volcano out of one window and a lake out of the other, we knew it was too good to be true.
On the front porch of the Arenal Observatory Lodge, Owen attempts to gently re-introduce his 27-foot-long legs to the sun, which they haven't seen since the Cold War.
They tried to write a haiku. But they failed.
Owen jumps up and down to register his objection to the NO JUMPING sign at the beginning of this wood plank bridge.
Sunset over Arenal Lake.
"Hey, after this photo we better ask somebody where that lodge is," says Owen.