On February 12th the group met after breakfast and had a general introduction to photography and each other.  There were twelve participants plus  our photography instructor, nature guide and bus driver.   We then made our way to Arenal which was once Costa Rica's most active volcano and the main draw to the town of La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano National Park.  As you will see from the photos the "volcano lords over the countryside with its perfectly conical shape and occasional smoke and gas emissions".   We stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge which had a beautiful patio overlooking the Arenal Lake.  

During one of the stops I took this photo overlooking the country side full of farms.  

One of the great things about being a photography/nature trip is that the guides and bus driver are happy to pull over on the side of the road whenever there is something interesting to see.  This time there was a sloth sleeping in the tree.  This was very exciting for all of us whenever anyone spotted animals/birds.  Unfortunately I could not get a good close up picture.  This sloth was way up in the tree and I did not have a super long lens, not to mention that you couldn't see his face.  One thing we all noticed was how well the animals were camouflaged.  Our guides did a terrific job in spotting them.  

So I did much better in taking close up pictures of fruit on the trees.

The next morning we all awoke early and met on the hotel's patio at six in the morning.  There were a lot of feeders which attracted all kinds of birds.  This shot was taken from a fair distance away (I really need a long telephoto lens).  These birds are  Montezuma Oropendolas and are common in northwestern Costa Rica.

Here are some close up views of the bird.

Here is a Great Curassow.  

More pretty looking birds all enjoying their breakfast.  

After breakfast we stopped at the Ecocentro Danaus to photograph various wildlife and flowers.  The protected area consists of 7.5 acres which was formerly used as pasture and agricultural land.   I liked the colours of this flower.  

We stopped to take a look at this family of coatimundi who were looking for food beside the road.  

After lunch we got on the Arenal Sky Tram to see the views of the Arenal Volcano, Lake and surroundings.  

When we got the top of the tram we watched some zip liners.  No I was not brave enough to try!

Here is a zip liner in action- this was on the training section.  

This was the view from the top overlooking the lake. 

Here is a better view of the Arenal Volcano.  

Here is my artistic view of the Volcano.

Here is the obligatory sunset picture taken from the observatory deck at the hotel.