Fiery Arenal Volcano Of Costa Rica
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With luggage and camera gear packed in the van by 8 in the morning my new friends and I on my photography tour are off to our first destination, promising to be an outstanding adventure. The excitement is high with everyone getting to know each other and talking cameras and pictures on this their first day.
Arenal, an active Costa Rica volcano, is our destination but first there are a couple of photography stops along the way. We go first to the little Tico community of Sarchi where brightly colored, decorated oxen carts are made in an old water powered factory. The second stop is nearby Zarcero, which has, as its focal point, an old wooden church and a double row of lovely topiaries leading up to it. Many memory cards are filled just photographing these two places with the magnificent colours and patterns of Sarchi and the incredible shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.
Luis, our driver, is very familiar with the many potholes that make Costa Rica famous, so he cautiously makes his way along the road while most everyone else, on 2 or 4 wheels, pass us by. The number of wannabe Formula One drivers in Costa Rica is staggering. There is even a bus driver who has been known to have passengers find religion and speak directly to God on his overland route.
After our planned stops and lunch in La Fortuna we are now just a few miles from our lodge at Arenal. As we leave the main highway we find ourselves on a road that is one continuous pothole. It is January and the rainy season has just ended so most roads are in poor condition but what is unique about this road is that it was constructed from crushed lava rock.
Rounding a curve we see a clearing beside a tropical river and there is the perfect cone shape of Arenal Volcano! Those who have never seen a volcano are stunned at the sight.
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.
Arenal is highly monitored and quite predictable so even being this close the volcano holds little risk of a sudden, catastrophic eruption, though small eruptions are very common. The base of the volcano is 1 km from the lodge and the cone is 2 km away, which gives the guests at this lodge many opportunities to experience the volcanic activity.
While unpacking and getting settled in, Arenal speaks. It is a great roar, smoke and gas billowing many hundreds of feet into the sky and the sound of the rocks tumbling down the slopes. After the eruption, the Mantled Howler monkeys are extremely vocal but we do not know if they are protesting the roar of the eruption or just answering back.
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!
Most of us do not get much sleep for the first two nights. Instead, we find some comfortable chairs in the common area outside our rooms and attach cable releases to our cameras and put them on a tripod. From past experiences I decide to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at “B” for time exposure.
I think a time exposure of more than 20 minutes will produce an ugly yellow blob of light since there is a lot of activity of small flare-ups at the cone. Lava is flowing down the opposite side, so I allow no more than 20 minutes to pass before I closing the shutter and starting another exposure. The use of a cable release makes these exposures very easy and while we were there Arenal puts on quite a pyrotechnical show.
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.
Frank Scott writes from sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique photography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.
