Costa Rica is part of "the ring of fire", a series of volcanoes that circle around the surface of the earth, ringing the Pacific ocean. It should therefore, be no surprise that volcanoes are commonly found all over Costa Rica.
Whether people come to Costa Rica early and experience a little of San Jose before our tour, or just come the night before, the next morning we start our day off early. It’s a must, to see the Poas Volcano, stop in all the right places, and then travel southward towards our retreat.
Poas Volcano and Team Costa Rica 2014
Today I am going to talk a little about Costa Rican volcanoes. There are 6 active and 61 inactive volcanoes in Costa Rica alone. I thought volcanoes were shaped like mountains, but there are many, many types. A mountain shaped volcanic form is called a cinder cone. But Poas, the volcano we’ll be going to, is a caldera volcano, a crater filled with water and rising steam or smoke.
Poas Volcano National Park is situated in the central Highlands of Costa Rica, only 1.5 hours from San Jose. The drive from San Jose and back takes us through coffee and flower farms, and an area known for growing strawberries. Lots of pitstops for photos. Martine will be her usual encyclopedia of information on the economy and farming history of CR as we drive along.
We can stop whenever we see anything that catches our eye. Last year, we had a very exciting stop for a sloth that was on the side of the road. It moved so slow, that I thought it was injured. This was quite an opportunity. The sloth population is healthy, but their regular habitat is the upper canopy of the jungle, well hidden. Once in a while though, a youngster who doesn’t know any better may come down. Who knows what we’ll see this year!
Flower farms in the Central Highlands, just north of San Jose
We can stop whenever we see anything that catches our eye. Last year, we had a very exciting stop for a sloth that was on the side of the road. It moved so slow, that I thought it was injured. This was quite an opportunity. The sloth population is healthy, but their regular habitat is the upper canopy of the jungle, well hidden. Once in a while though, a youngster who doesn’t know any better may come down. Who knows what we’ll see this year!
No fear Martine, redirecting a young sloth away from the road,....
Seems like a docile and sweet little thing-Sloths in Costa Rica
Another view of Poas, a little further away, you get a sense of it's placement, amongst low lying mountains
Poas Volcano one of the largest and most active volcanoes in CR, 1.6 km. wide, this rain fed crater emits Sulphur (you can smell it), and is occasionally active, with geysers reaching as high as 250 metres. The venue is very safe, with a platform that gives a spectacular aerial view of the main crater. There is also a secondary crater. It’s a pleasant walk, and if the skies are clear you can see both coasts from this vantage point!
What a way to start the first day of our tour. With one of the worlds miracles. One of many to follow. Tune in next time, for a glimpse of our journey to the Chirripo Mountains.
For anyone around Ottawa this weekend please come by and say Hi at themysticalevent.com, taking place at the EY centre on Uplands drive. Both Martine and myself will be there, at booth #39, listed under rrescape. I'll be demonstrating with a pastel painting from Costa Rica, and we're talking trips to Costa Rica all weekend. My demo will be Saturday at 2 pm. This is a great opportunity to come out, meet us both, ask any questions you might have!
If you have any questions at all before hand, e-mail me! margferraro@xplornet.ca
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