Surely it was a routine workday for Park Rangers and Volcanologist checking the pulse of Earth's boiling entrails, but for us it was an awesome experience.  Seldom one could enjoy such a magnificent display of Nature's immense powers. Our planet is alive. The same forces that millions of years ago forged continents and archipelagoes, still breath from the core of the Earth.

Where in the whole world one could visit the crater of an active volcano while walking 11,260 feet above sea level?
Meet Irazú National Park, Costa Rica.
Risky climbing, exhausting journeys, expensive equipment?  No, unless you want to.

Driving from the Capital City of San José toward Irazú National Park should take less than two hours. Special driving skills and 4X4 Sport Utility Vehicles are unnecessary. A compact sedan in fair condition will fit.  Apart from a few potholes here and there, the road is safe. Small towns, restaurants, coffee-shops and Inns spread along the way. Costa Rica's tourism industry has incorporated volcanoes as part of a variety of ecological destinations.

Central-American volcanoes belong to the Pacific Rim of Fire. Irazú is Costa Rica's highest volcano. Additionally, is a site unique in the Americas - on clear days it is possible to see both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Moreover, knowing that this seemingly tamed Titan has unleashed several catastrophic eruptions in the past, we felt we were walking over an unpredictable abyss of fire. Cartago, a city found thirty-one miles from Irazú, was partially destroyed in 1723. Almost half a century ago, on March 19, 1963, Costa Rica's colossus woke again vomiting tons of ash over a vast territory. Ash rains lasted for almost two years, covering places as remote as the capital, San José, with thick layers. Several football fields in size, a thick layer of pulverized ash spread over one side of the main crater. 

Before exploring Irazú, we thought of volcanoes as evil, destructive forces. Human historical memory usually recalls the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, two ancient Roman towns that Mount Vesuvius treacherously destroyed in AD 79. More recently, on May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded.

On July 13, 2003, we were rocked by news coming from Montserrat, a Caribbean haven for the rich and famous. Soufriere Hills Volcano erupted again with powerful explosions spewing thick clouds of rock and lava into the air while part of the dome collapsed. The eruption partially destroyed this tourist paradise, forcing authorities to proclaim the southern two-thirds of the island uninhabitable.

Perhaps Earth challenging human depredation?