the closest town to the volcano. this is the main square. not too far from here we learned the word "descorchador" at the centro plastico.

we saw this sign and got a little discouraged... "it's still THAT far away!" in costa rica driving 17 km can take half an hour.

that's lava flow during the day. at arenal it takes the form of tumbling magma rocks that skip, roll and burst their way down the steep slopes, rather than the slow-moving rivers you might be more familiar with. during the day there isn't much to see, but whenever it's quiet you can hear it. it sounds like massive rocks smashing together in the far distance. we could hear it in the hotel room all night.

the volcano is to the right

this wasn't even the nice room with a balcony we wanted.

we stayed at the arenal observatory lodge, which is by all accounts THE place to see lava, since the flow recently switched directions. the place was built as an observatory by the university of costa rica, but has since been abandoned to its current incarnation as a resort hotel that only tenuously hold on to memories of its higher calling as a scientific outpost. honestly. if it weren't for these views and it's remote location (maybe 5km up a dirt road) there would be very little reason to recommend this place. the food was really terrible, everything was fairly expensive and the place was overrun with really loud american and european families. but come on. look at that view. awesome.

this is taken through the window of the hotel room. you really have to see it for yourself. honestly.