Escape to the Other Side of the Volcano

We all need to get away at times, and Lori and I finally found some time to celebrate our upcoming anniversary. Our anniversary is not until the end of this month but with building a house and everything else going on, getting away is not easy.

We wanted to find a place different than our environment here without driving 4-6 hours to get to the beach. On our travels from San Jose to Paso Marcos we found an alternate route in which we escape the slow trucks and traffic. This route is high above the traffic and we enjoy the cool mountain air. We figured we could find a place to stay in one of those villages.


View of the Volcano from our hotel.

We found a place called Volcan Turrialba Lodge. It is 3 miles from the Volcano and 7 miles from the closest out of the way village called Pastora. Sounds great dosen't! This place was very reasonably priced and we had the place to ourselves (no other guests) except for the 1500 sheep and cattle on the nearby fields. The other cool thing about this place is that it was actually very cool. Volcan Turrialba Lodge sits around 8700 compared to 2000 feet above sea level by the Pacuare River.



Wonderful view of sunset

The reason why I called this article the other side of the volcano is because we can view the Turrialba volcano from our house on clear days. We live about 20 miles from the volcano as the crow flies. I felt like a little kid thrilled with excitment viewing something only seen in the news or magazines. We also got to see and smell first hand the volano's destructive nature, understand the different climates and geo systems in this amazing country.

We enjoyed the diverse terain during our 4 hour hike




The burnt side of the volcano where the
wind blows the dangerous smoke



Morning sun trying to penetrate
through the volcano's smoke

Clouds sweeping in underneath
the plume from the volcano.

Lori and I were very thankful for the time to get away and reflect on all that God has done in our lives.