Asleep in your hotel room, you’re suddenly awoken by a sound resembling thunder. But closer. More intense. Your windows rattle in their frames. Yanking back the curtains, you see the mountain a few kilometres away belching smoke from its summit. If you’re sane, you’ll either haul your ass out of town as fast as a speeding bullet, or back off at a more sedate pace, hoping to steal a better glimpse of the impending fireworks. One thing you don’t do is chill out in a jacuzzi, cold beer in hand, and watch the world explode. Not if you remember how dangerous volcanoes are.

Only 25 years ago, when Nevado del Ruiz erupted in Columbia, the town of Armero was totally buried. 23000 died.

Killer volcanoes

As I write this, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokul is still spewing forth a huge cloud of ash that’s covered the whole of Europe. Although thousands have been evacuated and hundreds of thousand are stranded, nobody has died. While these people have plenty of cause to complain, they’ve got off comparatively lightly. When Huaynaputina, a volcano in Peru, erupted in 1600, the ash fell thousands of kilometers away onto Russia. Two million died from the resulting famine. Only 25 years ago, when Nevado del Ruiz erupted in Columbia, the town of Armero was totally buried. 23000 died.

Explosive accommodation

So when a volcano erupts, you can pretty much guarantee that your holiday is screwed. But there’s one exception. Arenal is considered Costa Rica’s most active volcano. 1,633 metres (5,358 ft) tall, its crater spans 140 metres (460 ft). Since 1968, it’s been erupting every single day. Rather than run away from it, people run to it. Why? To stay in the world’s only volcano hotel.

All fired up

Arenal Observatory Lodge was originally built by the Smithsonian Institute as a place of research, but these days its 43 rooms house less academic guests. I spent one Christmas there, and just like in my childhood, I found it very hard to sleep. This time, however, it wasn’t the anticipation of presents that kept me awake. It was the boom of gigantic fiery boulders thundering down the volcano side.

The world’s least relaxing jacuzzi

Despite the lack of sleep, in the three days I stayed I never got tired of watching the sparks fizz from the summit and the rocks crash into the rainforest. Yet even while lazing in the hotel’s wonderful outdoor jacuzzi, it was impossible to fully relax. The ash columns, underground rumbling, glowing orange lava flows and sudden explosions have a way of keeping you very, very focused.

Some serious damage

While you might think that adrenalin misplaced, it’s important to remember that Arenal has done some serious damage in the past. On July 29th, 1968, it buried 15 square kilometers in rocks and lava, destroying three villages and killing over 70 people. That day, boulders flew several kilometers and made craters up to 20 meters wide and three meters deep.

Threat level red

Nonetheless, for some of the guests the near continual fireworks, dramatic views and the sense of imminent threat were apparently not enough. While having breakfast in the beautiful garden overlooking the mountainside, I heard an American woman complain to her husband. “If it wasn’t for the birds, there’d be nothing for me to see here.”

Clearly, that’s one woman who could do with more eruptions in her life. For me, those three days were explosive enough to be forever burnt into my memory.