hiking to Cerro Chato Crater
Tom and I got up at 8am for our breakfast of gallo pinto and plantános, etc. After filling up, we headed out to Cerro Chato Crater. Found 2 trail deadends, misinformed some German tourists about said deadends, found the correct path, hiked down the deadends to find the Germans (to no avail), then began our own ascent to the top.
We nearly stopped and turned around because of a very scary-looking snake, which we later learned was a Fer-de-Lance (or a false one, anyway).
The Germans had actually paused to tell us about the snake. We pondered the possibilities -- jumping over it, going slowly around it, etc.) then decided to make a wide arc around the right side of it. While Tom made his way around, I eyeballed the snake for sudden movement and, once Tom was safely past it, he did the same for me.
We later found out that the family of four we'd seen with their guide (who had informed us it was probably a Fer-de-Lance) had just leapt over the snake, without issue. Anyway, Tom was ingenious and suggested we tear off some leaves from a nearby tree and spear them to the end of a branch to warn us, on our return trip, of just where the snake was located. It worked! And we did our arc thing to the side of the brush once again.
All in all, the hike was well worth it! The trail was steep and slick in many parts, and the view of the lake within the crater was obscured by mists, but overall, it was amazing to be in a Costa Rican rainforest, at the top of a volcano, staring down into its crater...!
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