Volcano Arenal - Costa Rica 2008

Volcano Arenal seen from the lake - unfortunately covered in the abundant clouds. View from Volcano Lodge as a short clear spell occured in the middle of the day.
From the road to La Fortuna, the ancient inactive crater is seen clearly - but the rainclouds are still closing in on the active one. This is the active part of the volcano - but seen from the northern side, whereas the activityusually occur on the southwestern side.
Only for short spells, the top was partially visible from the north side - but here we actually saw fuming boulders bumble down the westernmost slopes to the right. Tha activity was clearly visible even in daylight - as lava boulders treble down the slopes right under the clouds covering the summit. Every now and then violent thundering sounds were heard - both day and night.
We went as close as 800 m from the active lava streams at night - but unfortunately the clouds were so dens and so low on the slopes, that we only briefly saw two short traces of the glowing lava streams. From the north side at Los Lagos Lodge, we found a trail further up to the lakes close to the volcano.
We found many abandoned old huts - clearly from the original lodge, abandonned becouse of the lava streams rigth besides them. An old lava stream only 100 meters from the old lodge at the lake.
The volcano is again covered in more clouds - right behind a narrow strip of rainforrest. This trail behind the Los Lagos Lodge is highly recommendable - but the top part is only accessible at your own risk due to the volcanic activity! This is clearly signed, as seen above.

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