Costa Rica Area Info
Land of Volcanoes
By Staff
Jun 18, 2005, 15:39

A Mighty One

The first documented eruption was recorded in 1723 by the governor of Cartago at the time, Diego de la Haya Fernandez. Since then, the volcano has had a long history of eruptions. Between 1963 and 1965, Irazu began a period of intense activity, which devastated the surroundings of the crater and seriously affected San Jose and Cartago with ash fall.

The entire Costa Rican territory is covered by more than 112 volcanic formations.
Seven volcanoes are active, and ten are known tourist destinations. The volcanic activity throughout the country has highly contributed to the rugged terrain and beautiful landscape that can easily be observed.

Due to the altitude, agricultural practices in the past and volcanic activity, wildlife in the area isn’t very abundant. Larger animals are scarce, but there are coyotes; Brazilian rabbit, red-tailed squirrel, mexican hairy porcupine, long-tailed weasel, and the wooly possum. Birds, on the other hand, are more numerous.

Around the craters one can observe some low-rising vegetation, characterized by species like the sombrilla de pobre (poor man’s umbrella, because of its large-sized leaves) and the papelillo, with colorful yellow flowers.