The abundance of volcanic activity over the millennia has contributed greatly to Costa Rica's landscape and its inheritance of natural resources. Abundant rain supplies moisture for agriculture plus the necessary ingredient for hundreds of rivers and dozens of spectacular waterfalls. Colorful butterflies and birds fill the air. Monkeys line tree branches covered with mosses, lichens and epiphytes. Reptiles and mammals roam the jungle floors.
Life is everywhere.
Arenal stands alone on the plain, a classic cone against the horizon. When we learned about volcanoes in school, our textbooks showed a drawing of a perfect cone standing by itself and spewing red hot rocks from its peak. Few volcanoes are so stereotypical. But Costa Rica's most active colossus looks as if it came straight from those textbook blueprints. For more than 400 years Arenal Volcano's forest-covered cone sat alone and silent on the edge of the San Carlos plains, exhibiting only a little fumarole activity in its single, dormant crater.