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The Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central in the city of Cartago. Its name could come from either the combination of “ara” (point) and “tzu” (Thunder) or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano. In Costa Rica it is known by the name of  “El Coloso” (The Colossus) due to the catastrophes that it has provoked in the past. Irazú has erupted frequently in historical times ,at least 23 times since its first well-recorded eruption in 1723.  It is the tallest active volcano in Costa Rica, standing at a frigid 3,432 meters above sea level (11,259 feet). There are five craters to observe in this desolate moon space, with the main crater measuring more than 3,450 across and over 1000 feet deep. Its most famous recent eruption began in 1963 and continued until 1965.  It began on the day US President John F. Kennedy started a state visit to Costa Rica and showered the capital San José and much of the central highlands of Costa Rica with ash.

Since the 1963-65 eruption, the volcano has been dormant, although frequent earthquake swarms show that magma is still moving about beneath the volcano. In 1994, a small phreatic eruption occurred, caused by heavy rains destabilising part of the volcano’s flank, resulting in rapid decompression of a shallow hydrothermal system.

The volcano’s summit has several craters, one of which contains Diego de la Haya, a green crater lake of variable depth. It is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica. It is easily visited from San José, with a road leading right up to the summit craters and a weekly bus service to the top. It is thus a popular tourist spot. The volcano summit also spots a few television transmitters for television stations in San José.

From the top it is claimed to be possible to see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on a clear day; however, such clear days are very rare indeed, and it is typical for the volcano’s summit to be covered in cloud for much of the time.

You can visit the Irazú Volcano National Park and all the beautiful north zone of  Cartago just in minutes from Hotel & Restaurant Sanchiri, visit our website www.sanchiri.com for more information.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Cartago. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.