Vocano Irazu, Volcano Poas Costa Rica StoneBearTracks CR#7
1977 independent study UofAla
Took a day trip to see Irazu.... a dormant volcano near/ above Cartago, Costa Rica. Volcano Poas notes are down below/ 2nd.
There was a place along the road from San Jose to Cartago. You're riding along looking at normal costa Rican life, buildings, houses/ homes, small businesses here and there... Green sub- tropical growth/ foliage and I mean green ... from the rain shower every afternoon at 4. riding along looking at the green growth,.... then whamo. About 1/2 mile of flat nothing. Just torn up natural chaos; it was stark. ?What the hell happened here?
Found out there was a volcano eruption in March 1963, while President Kennedy was making a state visit. The ash covered all of Central Costa Rica with about a 6" layer of volcanic black/ gray ash. There was a stream near Cartago and this stream got clogged up from the ash. I'm sure there is a geologic term for this event but what happened is this. There was so much ash near volcano Irazu that when I say the ash clogged up the stream, it was like a sponge and created this huge... ?A couple square miles?... ?5 square miles?... of ash mud ?Bog?... ?Sludge?...?Ash mud lake? ... the ash was like a dam and soaked up the stream for about a week or two.
When the weight of the water of this mud bog reached the point of viscosity -- where it began to flow as a big blob -- and it began to flow down the stream path/ bed... like a flash flood,...it was like a tsunami wall of mud that bulldozed and wiped out everything in its path a half mile+ wide. I mean everything! houses, building , trees, rocks,... everything. the landscape was torn up/ rocks drug up/ flattened... just a geological phenomenon that produced this flow of mud -- not lava... that's a pyroclastic flow. Anyway this pic doesn't show very well but it is the aftermath of the flow field some 14 years later. I don't remember weather it was 400 people killed in the ash flow?.... or 400 homes destroyed. It was a tragedy for sure.
Headed out from Cartago, Costa Rica by mid morning. Seeing parts of Cartago; this is a neat town... very interesting to see Costa Rican/ Latin American life. Got to the outskirts of town into the countryside and more rural. A few more miles and onto a dirt road that began to gradualy ascend up the mountain.
On up into the switchbacking mountain road I took a pic of the most beautiful sight... Cartago, Costa Rica... down at the base of this mountain/ volcano... not a valley... just the town of Cartago. It was a beautiful sight.
Half way up the mountain we stopped at a cafe for a mid morning snack... pic above. The entrance way had business cards and pictures from patrons from all over the world. Was looking forward to some type of pastry, local bread and pastries were made fresh everyday and usually good.... and a good strong cup of black coffee. While pouring coffee at the table.... one of the cups... the server poured out a cockroach from the pot into a cup; ewwwwwww!!! we didn;t drink a drop of coffee and left.
This was Costa Rica at its best... they tried to produce functional things like this... as simple as pouring out a cup of coffee... but there was a huge cockroach in it... or a giant mosquito... it was always something that made it so Latin American 3rd world country. When you did get some basic service-- without some menagerie of cockroaches in your food -- it was special. The Costa Rican peril.... Latin America.... was ... if you got basic normal.... then it was 1st class service. Normal service was occasionly served with a roach in your coffee or food and you always had to be onguard for bugs.... ALWAYS !!!
... but it was usually good and worth a little inconvenience if you learned to overlook some things. This was not hard to do.... to be watchful for sub-standard service or things. Growing up in Alabama in the 1950s and '60s the only thing 1st class was maybe Alabama football. Except for a few projects of the monied elite everything else was fairly bush league and years since any maintenece or upkeep was done. Alabama runs about 49th in the US on pretty much anything important like student: teacher ratio or fundeing per student/ classroom.
On up higher elev... went above the cloud layer/ ceiling. The cloud layers changed very rapidly everyday with the moisture buildup into cumulus clouds and at 4,... like clockwork, it would rain/ shower for 30 minutes, then quit, dry off in the heat, and in 30 minutes you couldn't tell it had rained.
The ride up the mountain/ volcano was interesting... climbing up past 2,000 ' was a begining... just planted coffee plantation.
Coffee was a main commodity export of costa Rica. this beginning grove above 3,000' would eventually produce Aricaba coffee... Costa Rican... the best in the world.
Above was the hillside of the volcano mountain being planted with coffee tree seedlings... this was above 2,500' so this would eventually become some of the most richest Aribaca coffee in the world. These seedlings would take 5 years to mature but the beans would become the best in the world... The World!!!
We went on up to the peak of Irazu, a worn out sign at a parking lot... and continued to walk up a path to the rim. That is a TV broadcast anntena tower of the San Jose station.
Looking down into Irazu.
A little better color.... the emulsion on these slides have broken down after 37 years.
There was a path down into the eye of irazu... black sand grannuals with a path trumbled/ trampled down... steep decline down into the eye. The eye was dry, no lake in the caldera. The white spots on the bottom are some type of alkaline or salts. The ground bottom in the eye was cracked soil like a dry mud lake bed square/ alligator pattern cracking.
That's several of the Uof Ala sociology and independent study students hiking down into Irazu. Pretty sure that is Professor Selwyn Hollingsworth in the light jacket and pants.
The Air is really thin... walking around the rim parking lot headed to a trail into the eye... sunny, blue sky, cool crisp air, temp probably 50*. We're at 11,200+' elev and breathing is hard just walking around, much less hiking up and down a rim path into the volcano eye. Irazu soil was like a black sand ash grain. There was no kaolin to bind it together. It was like a hard packed sand.
The hike back up the hill was a lot harder; wore me out and I was a 26 year old ex-Marine. A few people had altitude headaches.
This was a really good day trip and was back in Cartago by mid- afternoon.
*************
Journey to Volcano Poas, Costa Rica 1977
A month later was fortunate to go see volano Poas. I must have been tired as I don't remember much of the ride but we finally came to Volcano Poas. Poas was a lot different than Irazu. I was expecting to walk down into the eye... I mean... I don't get to do this but a few times in my life.
1st thing when you get out at Poas is the smell. Sulphur smell will knock you down it's so strong. The caldera crater walls are amazing volcanic ?strata... it's layered ash near the top of the eye, but you can tell where some verticle lava flows were. Black rock, very unique.
Most obvious is that there is only about a 100 yard observation point with guardrail. Poas is about 8,800'+ elev and I remember it was cool but humid like clouds were building/ forming and muggy, and it was like the sulphur smell stuck to you. It was uncomfortable.
The caldera crater was about 3 to 400' below the observation point with a milky light green looking lake about 150' diameter. a plume of white smoke/ steam came out near the edge of the lake. You do not want to walk down any closer; it's an assault on your eyes watering and nose running. I think some were coughing and hacking from the sulphur.
A few pix to record being there.
Latin America was a challenge for Becky... most days she did real well traveling in the 3rd world inconvenignecs; this was not one of those days. Becky has the look of ... 1. get me the hell out of here. 2. ?Whos idea was this? 3? This is your idea of fun? 4. ?What the honk was I thinking to book this trip?
About 20 minutes there was all you wanted. Been there, done that, let's hit the road & get out of here. Let's blow this taco stand.
