Volcan Irazu
Trip Start
Dec 12, 2006
1
15
55
Trip End
Mar 09, 2007
Irazu,
Costa Rica
Friday, January 5, 2007
But no worries because there are tons of volcanoes spread through out the country. Two are quite close by, Poas and Irazu. I was planning another trip to Poas, so Silvia and I opted to go visit Irazu. It's a good 1.5 hour drive that brings you through the city of Cartago.
We stopped in Cartago so that Silvia could show me the most famous church in Costa Rica. La Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles doesn't have the impressive look that the churches in Europe have, but it does ok for Central America I guess. On August 2nd every year, Catholic Ticos (about a million of them) walk from all over the country (some supposedly a week in advance because they live so far away) to pay tribute to the Basilica. Outside the church they 'walk up' on their knees to inside the church. The Plaza in front of the church is supposed to be just packed with people. Apparently its quite a crazy site.
Today however there was a funeral going on inside, kind of morbid. We came near the end of the services and stayed till it was done so that we could walk around a bit. It's kind of interesting because when people want to change something in their lives (health, the way their brother treats them, whatever) they buy a trinket that symbolizes what they want to change, they say a prayer asking for change and then hang the trinket up. You can walk around the back to see where the trinkets are hung up. There is also a fountain outside that is kind of a holy water that people collect bottles of and take home for symbolic protection.
After the church we made the curvy drive up the side of the volcano. You can actually drive up to the crater (well almost). The volcano is 3432 meters high (thats 11259.8425 feet for the mathematically challenged), so its pretty high. Its actually the highest volcano in Costa Rica. On a clear day you can see both the Atlantic and the Pacific from the top. Unfortunately today was quite a cloudy day and we were in the middle of it, so we couldn't see much. In fact we couldn't even really see the crater, it poked out a bit twice when the winds were just right so that you could vaguely make it out. So it was kind of anticlimactic unfortunately, thankfully I plan to do some of the other volcanoes.
I went out with Andrew and Catalina in the neighboring area to have a few drinks. They are leaving tomorrow to head back to school. We had a good time chilling out, talking and making fun of how Catalina lifts weights. I had a good time hanging out with them while they were back for vacation, too bad they have to go back.
Comments
So Far So GOod
Damn bro sounds like a hell of a time so far, checking out time slots I can take off to possibly come down and chill...I'll let you know