The National Museum is housed in a building that used to be Bellavista Fortress. It was built in 1917 and was used as military barracks. The first part of the museum is a butterfly garden with butterflies flitting about everywhere. There’s a display of the various stages of butterfly development.
This road leads up to a trail to the lake. The road is extremely rough. It’s rocky with a lot of potholes. But the forest is beautiful and the air smelled wonderful.
Arenal Volcano from afar. I read that you can sometimes see smoke rising. It was too cloudy for that while I was there. But it’s still impressive.
Just a random nature shot. It’s difficult (at least for me!) to get a big nature shot. There is just so much greenery.
I took a chocolate, coffee, and sugarcane tour. The tour covered the plants growing and how each product was processed, culminating in a taste test. I had coconut and almonds added to my taste of chocolate. It was delicious!
I also went on a sloth tour. The sloths weren’t as clear as the birds we saw, as well as other wildlife. This toucan was eating a lunch of berries. Taking a tour with a guide was well worth the price, he was able to spot things I would never have seen. He also had a telescope, and my pictures were taken with my phone held up to the telescope.
I knew I was visiting during the rainy season. The little house I stayed in had a covered patio. It was nice to sit and enjoy the rain sounds.
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Though this is the Jade Museum, there is a lot more to it than jade. It contains exhibits covering the area history. I was struck by most of the exhibits covered mainly the male life, this was the only exhibit that showed the women’s role.