2015

Although the last major eruption was in 1910, visitors can still see geysers explode into the air up to 820 ft (250 m) high. Chances of getting wet are pretty remote as the crater descends almost 1,000 ft (300 m) and is one of the largest active volcanoes in the world. Standing on the rim, visitors often smell the sulfur in the air, which at times has proven to be acidic enough for the park to close. It is from this crater that the effects of acid rain can be seen on the vegetation surrounding the landscape. Around the huge main-crater is the beautifully blue-green colored Botos Lake (Laguna Botos) and on the opposite side, the von Frantzius cone. Poás was near the epicenter of a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in January 2009 that killed at least forty people and affected Fraijanes, Vara Blanca, Cinchona (the most affected area), the capital San José, and the Central Valley region of Costa Rica. There was also eruptive activity in 2009 involving minor phreatic eruptions and landslides within the northern active crater. Poás eruptions often include geyser-like ejections of crater-lake water. On February 25, 2014, a webcam from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) captured the moment a dark cloud exploded about 1,000 feet in the air from a massive crater of the Poás Volcano. This volcano remains active today

Rising up to 8,885 ft (2,708 m), Poás remains one of Costa Rica's largest and most active volcanoes. Walking just 15 minutes from the visitor's center, the main crater supplies guests with a spectacular view. At almost a mile in diameter (1.6 km), the crater’s rain-fed sulfuric pool still bubbles and emits smoke into the air, reminding you of its imposing activity. There are two crater lakes near the summit. The northern lake is known as the Laguna Caliente ("hot lagoon") and is located at a height of 2,300 m in a crater approximately 1.7 km wide and 290–300 m deep. It is one of the world’s most acidic lakes. The acidity varies after rain and changes in volcanic activity, sometimes reaching a pH of almost 0; consequently, it supports little or no aquatic life. The bottom of this lake is covered with a layer of liquid sulphur. Acid gases create acid rain and acid fog, causing damage to surrounding ecosystems and often irritation of eyes and lungs.

I hope that you will agree that the subject matter, composition and colours of this shot are sufficiently interesting to compensate for its technical flaws (particularly the noise in the dark areas). It was taken in less than ideal circumstances: through the glass window of a moving bus on the way to the Poas Volcano National Park.

The coffee bean monument is near the main airport in Costa Rica. According to the guidebooks, the coffee bean is an essential part of Costa Rica’s agriculture, economy and history. Presumably, the vandals who left their calling cards on the monument feel differently.

Not well known among out-of-towners who are not into historic architecture, the Flatiron Building is a favorite of New Yorkers and admirers around the world. Perhaps because it symbolizes so much of how New Yorkers see themselves: defiant, bold, sophisticated, and interesting – with just enough embedded grime and soot to highlight its details. The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago’s Daniel Burnham as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling. Unlike New York’s early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower, blockier mass, such as the contemporary Singer Building (1902–1908), the Flatiron Building epitomizes the Chicago school conception: like a classical Greek column, its facade – limestone at the bottom changing to glazed terra-cotta from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company in Tottenville, Staten Island as the floors rise – is divided into a base, shaft and capital. The Flatiron’s most interesting feature is its shape – a slender hull plowing up the streets of commerce as the bow off a great ocean liner plows through the waves of its domain. The apex of the building is just six feet wide, and expands into a limestone wedge adorned with Gothic and Renaissance details of Greek faces and terra cotta flowers. The building has two claims to fame – one architectural, the other cultural. Some consider the Flatiron Building to be New York City’s first skyscraper. It certainly was one of the first buildings in the city to employ a steel frame to hold up its 285-foot tall facade, but not the first. Some felt its shape (like a flatiron) was less artistic and more dangerous. They thought it would fall over, and during construction the Flatiron Building was nicknamed "Burnham’s Folly." The building’s cultural legacy is a little more interesting and has passed into the local social consciousness as a fable. It is said that the building created unusual eddies in the wind which would cause women’s skirts to fly around as they walked on 23rd street. This attracted throngs of young men who gathered to view the barelegged spectacle. Police would try to disperse these knots of heavy-breathers by calling to them, "23 Skidoo." This phrase has passed out of common usage, but its descendant, the word "scram" remains in a back corner of the American lexicon.