This is a pananoramic view of the Volcano Arenal in the northern part of Costa Rica. I used a "photostitch" software method after taking these 7 different shots in my camera. The volcano did not want to show us her colors this day, but it was still an awesome experience being so close to one of the 7 active volcanos here. They say you can see the lava at night coming from the top sometimes at special observatory lookouts. This picture shows some steam coming from various places along the side near top of cone. But, very often the top is in the clouds. This is not a bad day, the last time it really threw lava was in 1963.
"What induces you, oh man, to depart from your home in town, to leave family and friends, and go to the country-side over mountains and valleys, if it is not the beauty of the world of nature which, on considering, you can only enjoy through the sense of sight; and as the poet in this also wants to compete with the painter, why do you not take the poet's descriptions of such landscapes and stay at home without exposing yourself to the excessive heat of the sun? Would that not be more expedient and less fatiguing, since you could stay in a cool place without moving about and exposing yourself to illness? But your soul could not enjoy the pleasures that come to it through the eyes, the windows of its habitation, it could not receive the reflections of bright places, it could not see the many flowers which with their various colours compose harmonies for the eye, nor all the other things which may present themselves to the eye." ...... Leonardo da Vinci, The 'Paragone
