Fiery Arenal Volcano Of Costa Rica

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It is eight in the morning and the van is packed with all our luggage and camera gear. We are off to our first destination, soon to become an adventure. Being the first day, the group is just getting to know one another and the level of excitement is high with everyone talking about cameras and pictures.

We are on our way to Arenal, an active volcano in Costa Rica, but there are a few stops along the way. First, we stop in Sarchi, famous for its tropical furniture, where magnificent, brightly decorated ox carts are made in an eighty plus year old water powered factory. From there, we drive to the little mountain town of Zarcero where the focal point is the old wooden church with its much-photographed double row of topiaries leading to its entrance. You can fill your camera’s memory card just at these two places with the colours and patterns in Sarchi and the fantastic shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.

Along the way, the potholes in the roads are many. Our Tico driver, Luis, knows this and so drives extremely cautiously to avoid them. However, it seems like everyone else on two or four wheels pass us. Those passing us seem to believe that they are Formula One contenders and in Costa Rica there is even a bus driver who is known to have passengers find God while on his bus.

After Sarchi and Zarcero we stop for lunch in La Fortuna and are now just a few miles from the lodge in Arenal. Upon leaving the main highway for the lodge we find ourselves traveling in, out, and around potholes. The rainy season ended about the beginning of December so many roads are still in very poor condition. Our road is unique because it was built out of crushed lava.

We round a curve and a come to a clearing at a river and there is Arenal Volcano! Most have never been face to face with a volcano before and it is truly an awesome sight to see, a perfectly shaped volcano.

The point of the cone is cloaked in puffy white clouds with a beautiful blue sky as a backdrop. We immediately stop and quickly leave the van attaching cameras to tripods. Some of us wade into the river for a better image while some shoot from the riverbanks getting a different perspective.

Of course being this close to an active volcano could be very dangerous but Arenal is quite predictable, a low risk. The lodge is only one and a half kilometers to the base of the volcano and two kilometers to the top of the cone and needless to say, any activity attracts your attention.

What a surprise that while we are unpacking and settling in, Arenal comes to life again! It roars loudly as smoke and gas shoot many hundreds of feet into the sky and rocks tumble down the slopes. Mantled Howler monkeys hoot loudly following the eruption but we really do not know if they are hooting in protest or howling in support.

While enjoying our meal in the lodge dining room mighty Arenal speaks again! Although there are many photo opportunities in Costa Rica, who would have imagined that while eating dinner we would be gazing up at a volcano erupting in front of our eyes? And this on our very first day of the tour!

The next two nights are without much sleep since we find comfortable chairs in the common area of the lodge just outside our rooms and we mount our cameras on tripods attaching cable releases. Since I had already been to Arenal many times I had chosen to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at “B” for time exposure.

With the activity of the small flare-ups at the cone and the lava flowing down the opposite side I think a time exposure of more than twenty minutes will produce an ugly yellow blob of light, so if there had been no eruptions after this length of time I will close the shutter and start another exposure. Using a cable release makes these exposures very easy and Arenal puts on quite a display while we are there.

Arenal is the first adventure in Costa Rica for my photo group. With another eight days of photography everybody is looking forward to the next destination that is going to be just as exciting.