When the Earth Rumbles - A Visit to a Volcano

Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

It was within just one hour arrival, sitting in my room facing the volcano, that I felt it. It's something that nearly defies explanation. It was a massive, deep, grating rumble that shock the ground and the very air around me. The entire mountain next to me had moved... and would continue to do so every few hours over the next 4 days.

Hours by bus, I had all worked my way inland through the jungles of Costa Rica, to one of the most active volcanos in the world; Arenal Volcano. I arrived at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, on a bluff just next to the volcano, the skies gray with clouds and the top of the volcano obscured by a heavy cloud. The rumble was the mountain's greeting.

An even more raw experience, I wandered around the base of the volcano, and was reminded of the life in the mountain as it shook beneath me and large boulders crashed down the top of the mountain. Everywhere there were signs "Danger. Do Not Enter. Pyroclastic Flows."

And at night, right from my room in the Observatory Lodge, I could observe a trickle of lava glowing in the dark.

It's a powerful, raw, unique, and one-in-a-lifetime experience.

A view up the volcano from a trail at its foot --