This is becoming an act of tremendous simplification.  All I can say is that this was a 2 camera battery day by the time I finished taking pictures.  It is becoming harder to edit them into a something relatively short.

Today we hiked around the side of Arenal, an active volcano, then went on hanging bridges through forest canopy, and then ended up at some waterfalls.  That's the short story.  Some of the picture highlights follow.

We start with a pair of courting black vultures, opening their wings up to get some heat from the sun.  A picture of a Magpie Jay follows; this is a gorgeous bird with the strong traits of both types.  Curious and opportunistic.

There was a major lava flow from Arenal in 1968 that was very damaging.  The vegetation is that just outside of the lava edge.  Following that is a picture of the (new!) rainforest we were walking through.  That vegetation had established itself in only 47 years.

These leaves are the home of some tent bats.  They damage the parts of the leaves so that they droop, creating a bat tent.

We saw ladyslipper and one-day orchids (named so because they only last one day).

The vegetation at the tree line is completely different.

The next photos were highlights for Brian.  They are pictures of gold and brown pit vipers.  These are some of the smallest venomous snakes in Costa Rica.

 By the end of the afternoon, most of the clouds had left Arenal.  The grey stripes are recent lava flows and you could see steam from the top.

This is a tarantula spider hole, and we could see the spider inside.

These are the hanging bridges taking us through the forest canopy.

I got my greatest wish met when I saw the Coati rummaging through the garbage.

 Once you've seen one waterfall.......

And finally, sunset at Arenal.

We will be spending lots of time on the bus tomorrow, so I promise more info on Costa Rico culture, etc.