Volcan Irazu y Iglesias

This week went well. Friday we finally had ceramics and our reforestation class. In the reforestation class we go up to Jorge’s mountain house and sift through horse poop and clean the area to plant trees. But what is cool is that since I am a biology major, another girl and I get to do a different project. We are taking photos of all the trees and plants in the area as well as insects or any other animals and we have to identify them. We have to find their scientific names from our pictures and the characteristics that we have noted. Then at the end of the semester we are going to present all of the information and catalog the plants in the area. Friday night we went out to some bars in Santa Ana as well which was fun.




Saturday we went to Volcano Irazu. We left at 7am for the volcano and arrived around 9. This volcano last erupted in 1963, the day JFK arrived in Costa Rica. We could look down and see the greenish lagoon in the crater principal, seen in the picture. It was really pretty because we were literally in the clouds. It was a pretty cloudy day but on a clear day you can see the Caribbean and Pacific ocean from Volcano Irazu.

We were also able to see another volcano in Costa Rica that just erupted a few weeks ago; Volcano Turrialba. It was really neat because you could see all the smoke coming from the volcano!



After the volcanoes, we went to ruins in Cartago and the Basillica of Our Lady of Angels in Cartago as well. It was really beautiful. We learned a lot about the Basilica and the story behind why it was built. The story is basically a girl from the village found a statue of the Virgin Mary on a rock and took it home. The next day, the statue was missing and the girl found it back on the rock on which she found it the day previous. So the little girl took it again, and again, the next day the statue was back on the rock to where she found it originally. The church was then built around this statue.

At the Basilica, the orinigal statue on the rock is kept in a glass area and people come to pray. Many people come to ask for miracles from la Reina de los Angeles and when their miracle is granted they bring gifts according to their miracle. (Like if people asked for a miracle involving their leg or something like that, people would bring a charm of a leg)

We then went to other ruins of a Church in Cartago as well and another church in Orosi. We had a huge lunch around 4pm and headed back to Santa Ana afterwards. I had a nice and relaxing evening last night with Jess. We got food and watched a few episodes of Friends and The Office. It was a very American night. Then we both went to bed by 10pm.

Today we went to Spanish mass in Santa Ana, walked through the markets, because every Sunday there is a market, similar to the Farmer’s market and spent the day doing homework and catching up with friends. We are going rafting tomorrow, and leaving at 6am! It will be an adventure. Til next time!