Costa Rica Sat 20 Nov 2010

Costa Rica Sat 20 Nov 2010
The Arenal Volcano had been dormant for five centuries when it erupted without warning in 1968. They found 87 bodies in three villages caught by the 1000 degree gasses surging down into their valley, many more died but were never found. This volcano does not produce rivers of lava, it cools more quickly into rocks which are hurled upwards out of the active crater, following the gasses down to create avalanches of huge hot boulders which splinter and break in all directions as the careering mass destroys everything in its path. Trees, vegetation, wildlife and villages disappeared in the carnage.
Today, the lower reaches of the mountain are green again with trees, shrubs and grasses competing vigourously for nutrients, water and light. An artificial lake, created to provide hydro-electricity, covers the three destroyed villages. The volcano, with its two craters and forming an almost perfect steep-sided cone, towers above this area of beauty and apparent tranquility. But it is still active, still spewing hot gasses and rocks in mini eruptions that occur intermittantly and with no warning.
We trek up to the lower reaches of the volcano. Nobody is allowed to go further than the point we reach. Access to Arenal has been controlled by the Costa Rica government since earlier trekkers were killed by sudden eruptions catching them too close to the active crater.
The volcano is awesome and threatening. It sits where the caribbean plate is pushing over the top of a pacific plate. There is more trouble to come.
On the trek we see three kinds of orchid and a wide variety of vegetation including large trees that have regenerated these lower slopes since the devastation only 42 years ago. It is a remarkable recovery by nature. Monkeys play in the trees. But it is only a matter of time.

But not today. We descend and are driven to hot springs which are a welcome by-product of the seismic activity. After an hour lazing about in the hot water, it´s time for our evening meal, delicious tomato soup with bits of avocado floating about in it, steak and veggies, ice cream to finish, a pleasant end to the day.

All the Best,
John