Home to more than 340 thousand inhabitants, San José, the capital and gateway to Costa Rica fades behind the horizon as the car climbs the curving road at the base of the poas 🇧🇷
About an hour away from the vicinity of Juan Santamaría International Airport, it is one of the top five active volcanoes in Costa Rica a country that has more than 120 volcanic centers, most of them very old and extinct.
After paying the US$ 15 (approximately R$ 80) per adult visitor at the park’s entrance, leave the car in a parking lot and walk another 400 meters on a paved path surrounded by lush natural vegetation.
Signs along the way point out escape routes and constantly remind visitors that the volcano could erupt at any time.
“You are entering the danger zone of a historically active volcano,” says one.
While the city below marks 25°C, Poás registers a drop of up to 10°C at its top, where the lower temperatures make the hair stand on end and call for sweatshirts and windbreakers.
Already at 2,700 meters above sea level, a lookout then appears in the landscape and reveals the big local star: a huge crater measuring 1,300 meters in diameter and 320 meters deep, which houses a mesmerizing gray-blue lake.
Beauty may even seem harmless, but the lake liquid is ultra-acidic – it even becomes one of the most acidic lakes in the world. Its color is formed by the mixture of toxic gases at a temperature that can reach 60°C.
From a safe distance, it is possible to come face to face with the crater of 600,000 year old active volcano which constantly releases gas.
Then visit the Poás Volcano National Park by the way, is to get in touch with a ecotourism more adventurous, Costa Rica’s trademark.
Not So Sleeping Giant
Like the other active volcanoes in Costa Rica, Poás is an attraction protected by a national park, which was founded in 1971 and covers 6,500 hectares.
The country is even recognized around the world as one of the most environmentally preserved on Earth, since approximately 27% of its territory is part of conservation areas.
O Poás Volcano National Park is located in the province of Alajuela and is located north of Central Valley a large area that includes parks, forest reserves and fertile land where coffee plantations are abundant.
Therefore, the volcano zone receives winds coming from the two coasts belonging to this country of Central America with breaths of Pacific It’s from caribbean 🇧🇷
Such winds were responsible for the dispersion of the column of ash and gases when a strong eruption occurred in 2017, in which pyroclastic explosions raised volcanic fragments up to three kilometers above the main crater.
At the time, the eruption was considered one of the strongest ever experienced by Poás, in which nearby communities had to be evacuated and the park was closed for months at a time.
Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
