We're back in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica

Survived a whole day of bus rides from 6am till 5pm on Friday to reach the Volcano Arenal near the city of La Fortuna. It was raining very heavily and the lau kok bus had no aircon, so all the windows were closed. Damn jialat... nearly died of suffocation. and the bus system here is crazy. anyone who wants to board the bus can flag it down from the side of the road and the bus will stop. anyone who wants to stop along the way can also press the buzzer and the bus will stop. so it took really long to get to our destination. and even though there are no more seats in the bus, they still let people on and they will be standing on the aisle, really cramped like sardines.

It was raining like crazy when we arrived in the town of La Fortuna, and the summit of the volcano was shrouded in clouds, couldn't see anything. but very lucky me got my first glimpse of lava flow on the way in the cab from the town to the spa resort where we were staying. i was so excited i squealed with delight and xj thot that there was a major eruption. almost want to tell the cab driver to turn around and drive as fast as possible to the Caribbean coast (Volcano is right smack in the centre of the country, about 200km from the coast).

During dinner at the restaurant, got a lovely view of volcano with lava oozing out. Taking pictures like crazy. Suddenly, a loud explosion, and instead of just a trickle of lava flowing from the lip of the crater, it was flowing all over the top, many many rivers of lava. way cool!!!!! =)

Saturday spent the morning soaking in the hot springs at the foot of the volcano. The hot springs and spa are located on the exact site where the last major eruption hit and caused major devastation in 1968. In 1998, another major eruption caused pyroclastic lava to land about 1 km from the hot spring / spa. We were initially a little apprehensive about staying so close, at the foot of the volcanor, but well, we thought, what the heck, right? If it's time to go, it's time to go... Besides, the situation is constantly monitored and there were no advisories or warnings of any impending eruption when we are there.

After soaking in the hot springs which were really hot(!!!!) went for a massage, and a hike up the base of the volcano, to see the 1992 lava flow. had an 80 minute hot stone massage this morning before starting on the 4 hour bus ride back to San Jose.

We're headed back to NY tomorrow and then to Niagara Falls and Hudson Valley to see the fall colours. Heard from friend in NY that it's 10deg celsius max in NY... Brrrrrr..... blahdi cold!!!!!