Poas Volcano National Park - Hannah

Today we visited our first volcano in Costa Rica. We left for Poas Volcano early this morning after picking up some produce at the farmer's market.

The base of the volcano is full of covered ornamental flower farms. Apparently they are grown in that region and shipped all over the United States and Canada. I'm also guessing they grow a lot of strawberries, since there were people out selling their strawberries all up the mountain. We bought some tasty ones on the way back.

The park was fun to see. It reminded us of National Parks in the United States. We learned that a Costa Rican student had visited Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the 1960s, and was impressed with it; when he returned to Costa Rica, he wrote his master's thesis about how to develop Poas Volcano along similar lines, and helped to implement the plan. So the area has a small visitor's center with information and models of volcanoes, neatly organized parking lots, maps, nicely paved pathways, and lots of people.

Everyone was supposed to park facing the lot, to facilitate a
smoother emergency evacuation plan, if needed.

A short walk took us to the main crater of the active
volcano--no lava but an acid lake that shoots up steam
and sulfur gas. Every now and then we got a nice whiff
of the sulfur.

The lake has a pH of less than 1, which is more acidic than stomach acid.
We didn't go for a swim.

The kids decided to practice their modeling skills.

We then took a short walk to the next crater, past
some nice mossy-covered vegetation. Aside from
church, this was the fourth time Michael hasn't worn
shorts since we've been here.

Here is the next crater, an extinct volcano crater filled with slightly acidic rainwater.
Only some algae and microorganisms live in this water.

This was probably our first excursion where we didn't get in the
water--just enjoyed the view.

On our way back to the car, Michael carried his second
backpack. Jonah loves to ride on Dad's shoulders.