The volcano that wasnt
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2008
1
23
32
Trip End
Aug 23, 2008
La Fortuna,
Costa Rica
Thursday, June 12, 2008
We caught a bus to Ciudad Quesada where we changed for La Fortuna. La Fortuna is the nearest village to the "spectacular˛ Volcan Arenal. It was presumed extinct until 1968 when it erupted after 400 years of dormancy wiping out the village of Arenal and killing 80 people
DM Dan and I
. Since then it has been continuously active, the last major eruption being in 2000 and since then people have had to view it from further out (about 1 mile) and people come here to see lava streams and red hot rocks being blown out of the crater at night. It is touted as in the top 10 most active volcanoes in the worldWe found at tour leaving that night that promised a second night tour free if nothing is seen. We checked into Gringo Petes Too for $5 a night and headed for the Volcano. It was overcast and the cloud was low and the guide pointed to where the volcano should be. All we could see was cloud and darkness. I wasnt even sure a volcano was here. After an hour of sitting in the light rain we gave up and went home hopeful that tommorrow night would bring us better fortune.
La Fortuna was completely different to Nicaragua. there was fast food stores, loads of traffic and shops with tacky signs offering all sorts of tours. plus there were tourists. It reminded me of Blackpool or a poor Las Vegas. It felt strange having to look both ways before crossing the road and as they drive on the right on more than one occasion i nearly stepped in front of a tour bus hurtling tourist to and from the volcano.
The next morning the weather hadnt improved (it was 14 days now of on and off rain. I felt like i was in London during Wimbledon fortnight) so we decided to head out to La Catarata de Fortuna, a waterfall that cascades down a steep canyon and into a small pool
Even in day time couldnt see volcano
. It was a 6km walk mostly uphill but was certainly worth it. Mainly for the clean fresh water pool adjacent to the falls. Despite the coldness was certainly refreshing after the walk here. We headed back in the late afternoon not hopeful of seeing anything again tonight. The volcano which is just on the outskirts of town was shrouded in cloud. I still wasnt sure if this was all a scam as i hadnt even seen the volcano. That night we headed out. i would like to say that the clouds parted and we could see magnificent lava streams flowing down the side of a perfect cone volcano but alas we didnt. It rained even harded than the night before and we left thinking what can you do. Wiki says thats its good luck to see the whole volcano wothout cloud. I guess luck wasnt on our side. On getting back to the hostel we talked to the locals that worked there and asked whether they had seen the volcano. They said they had and admitted that many people living here are particularly scared at the moment because it has been very active. I wondered what they thought of tourist coming here and wanting to see a spectacular firework displayWe were living tommorrow, heading to San Jose the capital where we would part company. Dan was headed to South america and i was headed back to the caribbean coast looking for good weather. I would be in the capital for 2 days but no looking forward to it. Big cities are just harder to negioate. but we would see
