Irazú

Last Saturday we needed to get out of the house.  Cabin Fever, I am learning, isn't just a Northern phenomenon.  We were getting a bit stir crazy.

Friends from church mentioned that they lived close to the Irazú volcano.  This is actually one of the volcanos we see on our way to school everyday.  Noah and I had been to Irazú way back pre-kid, in 2005, but it's always good revist places and this time with Tico friends.  What we didn't take into consideration was that we were planning this trip on the Saturday between Christmas and New Years and that everyone else would be making similar plans.

We ended up having to wait about a half hour in line just to get into the park, but Noah and Daniel made sure to check things out, getting the low down from the guys selling cheese and tortillas.

Once in the park, Quinn absolutely refused to ride in the mae tai.  He was all about walking.

Whatever.  We also saw these crazy creatures.  They're called pizotes here.

It was interesting, when we were there in 2005, this is what the crater looked like.

As you can see, one of the craters is full of green something.  Amazing what 8 years does to a volcano.  There was no green anything in the crater anymore!   And really, is it too much for a mother to ask for a photo of the all the brothers in front of the volcano?  Apparently, because there was a whole lot of grumping and whinnying and I never did get a good shot.  Sigh.

You might have noticed that we are all wearing long pants, sweatshirts, shoes and socks (well, except me.  I apparently don't own shoes that I need socks for. hummm)  That would be because Irazú is at 11,260 feet.  It was sunny, but the wind cut right through us.  It was probably in the low 50's the day we were there.  It felt good to be cold.  It does something to your body.

We spent a lot of time just playing in the weird lunar landscape.  The ground is covered in, well, not quiet sand, but not rock either.  And there is a big patch of this golden grass type stuff with these weird "nests".   NONE of the kids were in picture moods.

 At one point I saw Elliot stalking Noelia  like a tiger.  And then Daniel did the same thing to the  boys. 

After we got our fill of the volcano, we enjoyed some hot choclate and agua dulce (a hot, sweet drink) and then we were off to find this killer ice cream Daniel kept telling us about.  And it totally lived up to the hype!

We also had dinner at Daniel and Andrina's house and it was so nice to sit and share, all feeling that nice tired that comes from a day in the cold and wind.

Oh, and I would be remise if I didn't show you the newest Sony commerical featuring Irazú.  I had to make sure to clarify to the boys that there would not be flowers exploding out of the volcano when we were there.