Puntarenas, Costa Rica

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29^thJanuary 2014 Puntarenas, Costa Rica



A contrast to the east coast of Costa Rica. Puntarenas from the port looks more mountainous, with high peaks surrounding us. The trip today is to the Poas volcano which entails a 2 hour coach ride to the crater and the on to the town on Sarchi.



The trip took us out of town up through the lowland fertile sugar cane fields, the hillside coffee plantations and to grassland plains where the dairy cows grazed and then into the ‘Cloud Forest’ of the Poas volcano.



Poás was near the epicenter of a 6.1-magnitude in January 2009 that killed at least forty people and affected the capital San Jose, and the Central Valley region of Costa Rica.



As we approached the volcano, the sun was shining but as we got higher, clouds began rolling in and you could then start to smell the sulphur in the air. Our guide then informed us that only 1 in 3 people sees the crater because of cloud cover and as it was a 700 meter walk to the rim it was up to us whether we took the walk. As we approached the crater the cloud rolled away and we saw the Poas volcano in all its glory.



There are two crater lakes near the summit. The northern lake is known as the Laguna Caliente ("hot lagoon") and is located at a height of 2,300 m in a crater approximately 1.7 km wide and 290–300 m deep. It is one of the world's most acidic lakes. The acidity varies after rain and changes in volcanic activity, sometimes reaching a pHof almost 0; consequently, it supports little or no aquatic life. The bottom of this lake is covered with a layer of liquid sulphur. Acid gases create acid rain and acid fog, causing damage to surrounding ecosystems and often irritation of eyes and lungs.



After lunch we headed off to Sarchi, the shopping element of the tour. Sarchi is in the middle of the coffee plantations so most people work in some form of agriculture (the coffee by the way is ALL picked by hand). Tourism is a big part of the countries income as mentioned in the Limon blog and Sarchi was a meeting place (it seemed) for all tours (AT ONCE).



With shopping over it was back to the ship for a late sailaway for a 6 day sail to San Francisco and the colder weather!!

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