Under the volcano

Arenal or "sand source": the most active volcano in Costa Rica. Where thousands of houses were destroyed by lava, today there are countless hotels and hot spring resorts for avid volcano watchers.

The discovery that volcanos fascinate me is one concrete outcome of my month- long stay here two years ago. Retracing my steps to the volcano was the one thing I wanted to do personally, since the volcano has become active since my last view of the cone from the pools at Tabacón.

Time has a way of expanding in the presence of running water. Two years ago, I spent three hours watching as fog moved up the slopes of the volcano, revealing the scars of lava, occasionally rising high enough that brown drifts of volcanic ash were visible above the mouth of the volcano.

But time also changes things. Since we were here last, an earthquake changed some of the other volcanos we visited. At Tabacón, the difference of time was most obvious in the growth of trees, making it harder than before to see the volcano itself. And the pool that I spent so much time in before is gone; replaced by two smaller pools placed almost as if purposely so that sight lines no longer allow glimpses of the volcano.

So I moved to a different pool, one I avoided last time because it was crowded with swimmers buying drinks at a pool-level bar, and children and some adults using a water slide. But from one corner, the volcano was visible, and I watched as drifts of clouds moved past, as the entire layer of clouds rose up, never quite revealing the peak of the cone.

As I waited there, I noticed another woman stationary in the middle of the same area of the pool. In the middle of a crowd unaware of the threat of eruption, only the two of us and our companions waited, and waited, hoping to see the red glow of lava.