Dember 13th, 2012

Okay, it’s history time! My friend doesn’t want to do anything since we just got to La Fortuna.

The history of La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano have been connected for decades. The volcano Arenal reared it massive head and awoke after a 400 year slumber and violently erupted in 1968 with the largest eruption in its recent history. It had been dormant so long it was thought by the locals to be a mere mountain. Actually, Arenal is an almost perfect cone, soaring 1,633 meters above sea level and has a crater 140 meters deep formed over an ancient caldera.

The volcano dates back to about 3 million years ago. In 1968, Arenal (which means “sandy”) spewed ash, rocks, and gas for 3 consecutive days and when the smoke finally cleared the nearby villages of Tabacon, Pueblo Nuevo and San Luis were no more. From this catastrophic tragedy, La Fortuna (meaning ‘the Fortune’), was born as the town center and village for the Arenal Volcano area and like moths to a flame, tourists from around the world started descending on La Fortuna in search of fiery night skies. I think that’s about all I know of the volcano hopefully Carlos will tell me more about this great place.