Our Friday tour didn’t start till after lunch, so Tony and I looked forward to sleeping in and relaxing for a while. Except that we suck at that.

Instead of sleeping in, I got up and went to yoga at 6:30 a.m., which was dreamy. See yesterday’s post about it here.

After breakfast, we chilled in our room, looking out at the intermittent pouring rain. We read our books, wasted some time on Twitter and Facebook, and finally succumbed to the lure of Netflix to watch “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Finally, it was time to meet our tour, so we eagerly donned our raincoats and headed out.

Today’s itinerary included a guided walk at the Arenal Volcano and an evening of soaking in hot springs.

We met our guide, Carlos, and had barely left our hotel when we drove by a group looking up at a tree. Sure enough, it was a sloth. Our driver, Minor, parked the van, and Carlos quickly set up his scope. The sloth was curled in a ball, breathing rhythmically. Based on some lighter-colored fur poking out from the ball, Carlos said it was likely she was wrapped around a baby. No matter how much I pleaded, mama would not let me see the baby (much less play with it). Suddenly, Carlos got really excited about activity near the sloth tree. A fruit-laden bush had attracted about a gazillion birds. This one, a crimson-collared tanager is a rare sight, Carlos said.

Before reaching the trail, Carlos spotted another three-toed sloth sitting in a tree above the road. This one was also curled up with its head tucked. After setting up his scope, Carlos used a piece of torn plastic to make a loud whistling sound. The sloth raised its head, and Carlos snapped a few photos. Eventually, the sloth must have realized we posed no real danger, so it tucked its head back down for a snooze.

At the El Silencio Reserve, we headed up the Lava Trail of 1968. Hiking to the volcano crater is illegal, so the trails are at the base of the 5,300-foot (1,633-meter) volcano, weaving through rainforest and more desolate old lava flow. Carlos pointed out Arenal is a stratovolcano, which is a conical volcano created by layers erupted materials.

Here’s more information about the Arenal Volcano, from the Arenal Observatory Lodge website.

For centuries, the Arenal Volcano was a nearly perfect cone-shaped, rainforest blanketed volcanic mountain considered by many to be extinct. However, at roughly 7:30 a.m. on Monday, July 29, 1968, the dormant Arenal Volcano suddenly and violently erupted with a tremendous explosion. Extreme eruptions continued unabated for several days, burying over 15 square kilometers with rocks, lava and ash. When it was finally over, the eruptions had killed 87 people and destroyed three small villages – Tabacón, Pueblo Nuevo and San Luís – affecting more than 232 square kilometers of land. It was a difficult time for the people of Arenal. Crops, property and forest were damaged, and livestock died.
At the height of the eruption, Arenal Volcano was spewing out massive amounts of lava and ash and tossing giant rocks for distances of up to a kilometer at speeds of some 600 meters per second.
For 42 years, Arenal Volcano was Costa Rica’s most active volcano with flowing lava and pyroclastic surges that blasted huge rocks and cauliflower-shaped ash clouds into the air. Explosions were often accompanied by loud rumblings, which would wake tourists up at night.
The last big explosions occurred on August 25, 2001; March 2007; September 18, 2008; March 2, 2009; and May 24, 2010. None, however, compared to that of 1968. Since 2010, Arenal Volcano has been in a resting phase with very little activity, a process that is natural for active volcanoes. In 2012, Arenal Volcano revived a little, spewing columns of water vapor and gases into the air from the summit. These emissions can still occasionally be seen.

Unfortunately, the volcano refused to emerge from its cloud cover during our visit.

Fortunately, we had a glimpse of it when we arrived to town the other day.

Tony and I spent the evening at Tabacon Hot Springs. The volcanic thermal waters flow over elegant stone waterfalls, cascading into warm pools that are surrounded by lush tropical gardens. That said, it was a little anticlimactic, considering we didn’t really need to leave our own resort to get to some hot springs, and it was also hard to find a private spot in the pools without loud talkers or splashy children. Still, we had fun, especially sitting on the stone bench behind this powerful wall of water.