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PARQUE NACIONAL VOLCAN POAS (daily 8am-3.45pm; US$6), just 55km from San Jose and 37km north of Alajuela, is one of the most easily accessible active volcanoes in the world, with a history of eruptions that goes back 11 million years. Poas's last gigantic blowout was on January 25, 1910, when it dumped 640,000 tonnes of ash on the surrounding area. At the moment it is comparatively quiet. You need to get to the volcano before the clouds roll in, which they inevitably do, as early as 10am, even in the dry season (Dec-April). Poas has blasted out three craters in its lifetime, and due to more or less constant activity, the appearance of the main crater is subject to change - it's currently 1500m wide and filled with milky turquoise water from which sulphurous gases waft and broil. Although it's an impressive sight, you only need about fifteen minutes' viewing and picture-snapping. The park features a few very well-maintained, short and unchallenging trails , which take you through a strange, otherworldly landscape, dotted with smoking fumaroles (steam vents) and tough ferns and trees valiantly holding up against regular sulphurous scaldings. Poas is also home to a rare version of cloudforest called dwarf or stunted cloudforest , a combination of pine-needle-like ferns, miniature bonsai-type trees, and bromeliad-encrusted cover, all of which has been stunted through an onslaught of cold (temperatures up here can drop to below freezing), continual cloud cover, and acid rain from the mouth of the volcano. The Crater Overlook trail , which winds its way around the main crater, is only 750m long, along a paved road. A side trail (1km; 20-30min) heads off through the forest to the pretty, emerald Botos Lake, which fills an extinct crater and makes a good spot for a picnic. Named for the pagoda-like tree commonly seen along its way, the Escalonia trail (about 1km; 30min) starts at the picnic area (follow the signs), taking you through ground cover less stunted than that at the crater. Birds ply this temperate forest, among them the ostentatiously colourful quetzal, the robin, and several species of hummingbird. Although a number of large mammals live in the park, including coyotes and wildcats such as the margay, you're unlikely to spot them. One you probably will come across, however, is the small, green-yellow Poas squirrel , which is found nowhere else in the world.
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