Arenal Eruption 1968

Anyone who has visited La Fortuna has surely seen it. The Arenal volcano, a magnificent cone-shaped stratovolcano that, at over 1,600 meters high, defines the landscape. For a long time, it was assumed that Arenal was an extinct volcano. Locals even referred to it as Cerro Arenal, which means Arenal Mountain.

Fifty-seven years ago today, on Monday, July 29, 1968, at around 7:30 a.m., disaster struck unexpectedly. Arenal erupted suddenly and violently. The eruptions continued for days, burying more than 15 square kilometers under rocks and lava. When the eruptions finally stopped, over 230 square kilometers of land were covered in ash, including the towns of Tabacon, Nuevo Arenal, and San Luis.

During my first trips to Costa Rica in 2009 and 2010, you could still see lava flows coming from the volcano in the dark.  Today, Arenal is once again a silent, stately giant, but at places like Arenal 1968 and El Silenció, the hardened lava flows from 1968 can still be admired.