On a Friday afternoon a few months ago, I was sitting the closet you can get to the Arenal Volcano, next to my friend Steve, the geologist. We sat there for about half an hour, enjoying the view, the smells, the sounds and the little earthquakes that came with the volcano's explosions.
Arenal Volcano
How did we get there? Well, we spent the afternoon inside the Arenal Volcano National Park. On the way there my friend Steve was very nervous.
If you know that the Arenal Volcano is one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world, and you were a geologist, you would feel like my friend, because getting near it could be described as "dangerous". But Steve got brave and we walked into the national park.
We had three trail options. One would take us to a viewpoint where we would be able to see lava flows dating from 1968 and 1992. Another option was the Heliconias Trail where we could see the flora and fauna that developed in this land after the 1968 explosion. But the most appealing to us was the trail that would take us to the 1992 lava flow and allow us to walk across it. So we started walking the 2 Km trail.
Then, the first explosion came. It startled Steve, but I had heard little booms like that coming from Arenal before. We laughed at it - Steve nervously - and said the spirit of the volcano was trying to make fun of us. But then came a second boom this time so loud it made the earth tremble. We stopped and thought about the situation.
We realized that even if we started walking back at that precise moment, if an eruption were to happen at that time we could not move fast enough to avoid the rain of hot rocks. So, we just kept walking and hoping for a joking volcano and not one that was issuing a warning.
Arenal Volcano
The vegetation on the trail was a thick beginning to a secondary forest that might someday grow there. It was clear that it was regenerating from when the lava burned its path through the area 40 years ago. We saw tall, sugar cane-looking grass growing out of a sand-like terrain. This explained the reason for naming the volcano "Arena," which comes from the word "arena" or sand.
We finally made it to the lava flow. How exciting! Not only were we able to walk on the impressive rock masses, but we also had a great view of the volcano, the Arenal Lake and the "Cerro Chato," a small hill some people call Arenal's "little brother", due to their belief that it might be the next volcano. Both of us were feeling very lucky for having the opportunity to be in the presence of one of Mother Nature's powerful displays.
Later that day we sat on the porch of our hotel, had a beer and talked about our experience. Night came shortly after that and we enjoyed the volcano's night show as enormous rocks tumbled down the side of the mountain in a river of sparks: the spirit of the volcano painted the night red. My friend Steve smiled.
Ecotourism and Nature 
