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The Irazú Volcano (Spanish: Volcán Irazú) is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago.

The name comes from either the combination of “ara” (point) and “tzu” (thunder) or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano. In Costa Rica it is known by the name of “El Coloso” (The Colossus) because of the many disasters it has caused.

The volcano’s summit has several craters, one of which contains Diego de la Haya, a crater lake of variable depth.

At 11,260 feet (3,432 m), the Irazú Volcano is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica.

BAs Cartago’s most important site, and Costa Rica’s most venerated religious shrine, this basilica displays Byzantine grace, with fine stained-glass windows, hand-painted interiors and ornate side chapels featuring carved-wood altars. Dating from 1912, the structure retains an unharmed central relic: La Negrita (the Black Virgin), a small representation of the Virgin Mary, that was found on this spot on August 2, 1635.

If you happen to be in Costa Rica the last week of July to the 2nd of August, you can observe the impressive annual pilgrimage to the Basilica …

LLake Cachi (Spanish: Lago de Cachí) is an artificial lake in central Costa Rica created by the Cachí Dam (Represa de Cachí), an arch dam which is located north of Tapantí National Park, to the east-southeast of Cartago in Cartago Province. The main town is Cachí, located on the east bank of the lake. Built in the 1970s, it was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Costa Rica. It has an installed capacity of 102 MW with three units of 34 MW capacity each

For several years now, Costa Rica has run on entirely renewable energy for an average of about 300 days per year. That means the government did not burn any oil, coal, or natural gas to power the country. No other country this size has done this.