Blogs from Volcan Irazu, Cartago, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

In 2015 while exploring a small town in central Costa Rica called Monteverde, I stumbled into a tour guide establishment and grabbed several of the brochures that were advertising some of the most popular excursions in the country. In 2015 I was a newly graduated professional and in search of new adventures. One of the brochures was on the Volcan Irazu crater which looked amazing. This volcano crater was something new which I had to discover for myself. During a study abroad trip with University of South Florida in 2014 we visited Arenal Volcano which was amazing, although Irazu national park provided the opportunity for observers to hike up the face of the mountain and observe the volcano crater. Inside the Volcan Irazu crater there is a lake that changes color from aqua blue to blood ... read more

Having finally made it to the right start point hotel (I got a taxi with a German couple I met from my group, Markus and Franziska, who were also at the wrong hotel) I finally get to meet Brian our Costa Rican tour guide (he looks like a football pro!) and the rest of my group. There's three more from the UK (another couple, Miles and Catherine and solo traveller Ben), Dan an Ozzie who's living in the US, Marian and Doug two Canadians also living in the US and one bonafide American Stu. We get to know each other better over a meal in the evening and they turn out to be a fun and friendly set of people so it's looking like being a great trip. We meet the final two people, Jane and ... read more

This one will be more about pictures and less about writing. On Friday night the girls came over to go out dancing. YES! We finally went out to a local club Pepper’s and danced. FOR REAL! There were guys who could dance, there was a life band that played cool songs and the place that could support it all. We danced till 2:30am and left with a satisfied soul full alegria. Why does dancing make me so happy??? The girls spent the night in the house. In the morning we had coffee and bread with sour cream. Why sour cream? Because I thought I was buying Cheese Cream but accidently bought Sour Cream. The cream it was! Than we took a bus to Teatro National to take another one from there to Irazu at 8am. That ... read more

Today was an early start. After checking out of the rooms, we loaded the bus with our bags and settled in for journey through dappled sunlight towards the former capital of Costa Rica - Cartago. The traffic was busy and chaotic, 4x4s jostled with commuter buses to occupy the same space on the road as light goods vehicles, whilst mopeds darted in and out like hummingbirds visiting flower after flower. Like San Jose, earthquakes have taken their toll on the glamorous buildings of yesteryear to the extend that none survive. The town is a dreadful blend of modern single storey buildings. Heading through Cartago, we made our way up winding roads towards Irazu. This smoking volcano sits within a national park and apparently towers above the town. However, today, with low clouds, nothing was towering over ... read more

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great weekend!! Today, Sabrina, Fabian and I went up to the Irazu Volcano. It was really cold and foggy, so we only got to see a little bit of it. Then we went down to the town of Cartago and stopped off at their church and hung out in the plaza for a little while, just to soak up the sun! What a difference a few thousand feet makes! The volcano is at 11,000 and there are 2 different craters. One was yellowish green and the other was black, it looked like tar. Hope everyone is doing alright. I will talk to you later! Enjoy my pics!... read more