Stream-a-long with us.......across the USA

 Quepos Our drive to Quepos from La Fortuna was about 4.5 hours and took us past some interesting places.  We stopped by the Tarcoles River Bridge to see their famous huge crocodiles.  Many years ago, on my visit to Costa Rica, I remember taking a boat tour along this river & wanted to show Bob.  And we got to see them sunbathing!  It’s quite a happening spot. Crocodiles  Bridge stores! We arrived in Quepos in the late afternoon, and drove past a huge marina- seems that this town is known for its sport fishing.  Whale watching is also done from July to November bringing lots of tourists.  It seems like a sleepy town in that not much seems to be going on……basically, a waterfront promenade, and lots of people eating at small restaurants.  We headed off the main road and went up a steep narrow road filled with pot holes. Finally, we arrived at our Airbnb, The Treehouse.  Yep, this house was built on trees with the help of a few beams. ...

 La Fortuna presented to us another totally different environment- the rainforest.  It is a tropical rain forest and can get quite humid.  It can rain anytime of year, even during the dry season.  The forest areas are very lush with beautiful flowers and tropical plants.  But what brings most people to La Fortuna is the mighty Arenal Volcano.  This volcano measures over 5,300 feet tall and has a conical shape. It is presently dormant, however, it erupted in 1968 and destroyed the small town of Tabacon.  The eruption actually lasted from 1968 until 2010.  The volcano sits in the center of Arenal Volcano National Park. There are many hiking options both within the national park and adjacent.  We chose to hike at Mirador el Silencio- a nature preserve that borders the 1968 trail property of Arenal. Mirador has about 8.5 miles of trails and we traveled about 4 miles.  Here the forest has both primary and secondary forest.  The primary f...