Arenal Volcano

Today is day 6 of the trip. We have been in rain and in the clouds and the mud for the past 4 days. We all feel like prunes! The inside of our bus is hung with wet clothes everywhere in the hopes of going from dripping wet to damp!

This morning when I awoke, I thought I could see sun shining through the curtains in my room. I walked out onto my patio to dry air and THIS right in our back yard! What a wonderful surprise!

Arenal Volcano is 70,000 years old, which is young for a volcano. It is Costa Rica's most active volcano. From 1968 til 2010 there was an eruption every 2 hours from this volcano, with hot red lava flowing and ash in the air. Arenal Volcano has 4 craters. Crater A was formed on Arenal in 1968 and Crater B was formed a few months later, followed by C and D. I took this picture below from a book.

Today the volcano is very quiet, however there is always a cloud of steam and gasses that can be seen in two places - at two of the craters - high on the volcano. This was very exciting to see!

Pre-Columbian tribes considered Arenal to be the "Home of the Fire God." The volcano ceased all activity in the 13th century and stayed inactive until 1968 when an earthquake re-awakened it. 290 volcanoes in Cost Rica, only 5 active ones, however there are more active volcanoes under the sea here. 

This baby cow was right by my patio, too, grazing with his Momma Cow in the green grass with Arenal Volcano overlooking the pair!

From another angle, we saw what the Costa Ricans call "The Sleeping Indian". This reminded me of our beloved but gone, "Old Man Of The Mountain" in NH. You can see the forehead and silhouette of the man. This is the brother volcano of Arenal, which leads into Arenal, farther on the right.

I feel so fortunate that I decided to take this educators' tour... To see and understand another culture and country and to meet lovely people.