Volcano!

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Pura Vida! On previous trips to visit my dad in Costa Rica, I've been to two of the more famous volcanoes in Costa Rica, Arenal and Poaz. Arenal is the extremely active and well-known conical volcano, with lava flowing down the sides day and night. Poaz is very different, as it's not active and you can peer into it from above and look from very close at the blue/white sulphur lake.

So I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from the third of Costa Rica's big volcanoes, Volcan Irazu. The volcano is somewhat famous for exploding on the day that JFK flew into Costa Rica on a state visit in the 1960s, and apparently it started smoldering a few years ago too.

It took a couple of hours to get there and it was extremely cold because we were so high up . . . probably the only time I've had to wear a fleece and hat in Costa Rica. It was also really foggy (bienvenido a San Francisco) so we only got a few glimpses into the principal crater. It was like Poaz but not quite as impressive. Unlike Poaz's sky blue sulphur lake, Irazu's looked like somebody had relieved themselves in it. Still, what was really interesting was how expansive the barren area was around the volcano - clearly when it exploded in the past it levelled everything around it. The pictures are worth a look (gracias a mi padre).

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Photos

Volcan Irazu Principal Crater
When the fog cleared, this was the sight of the volcano's principal crater. The liquid is sulphur and the lake is 300m deep.

It was foggy
Also, check out what those people are standing on - it's not sand, it's volcanic ash.