Irazú and Turrialba's 2014 Blast Zone, with the Durán Sanatorium and Cartago

Two volcanoes in a day, and the second one is not on most itineraries. The drive up takes about an hour through farmland on the flanks of the two mountains. Irazú comes first, the highest volcano in the country: the main crater, then the walk round the others, on ground that reads as lunar. Turrialba is the other half. From there the cone is visible with its usual gas and ash, and the walk goes into the impact zone of the 2014 and 2016 eruptions, where the destruction is still legible in the vegetation and in what happened to the people who lived there. On the way, a viewpoint over the Sanatorio Durán. It was a tuberculosis hospital in the 1910s and 1920s, closed in the 1960s, and it has been decaying ever since. Most people driving to Irazú take it for an abandoned farm. It has a reputation as the most haunted building in Costa Rica. Cartago closes the day. The Basilica was built for the apparition of the Virgin of the Angels in 1635, patron saint of the country, and the stone statue is inside; the first chapel went up in 1639, and the present Byzantine building between 1912 and 1930. The Cartago church ruins date from 1575, and only the outer walls stand after two earthquakes. The story attached to them starts with two brothers fighting over the same woman: one killed the other, then built a church on the site, and every rebuild was brought down by an earthquake. After 1910 the ruins were left as they were, and they are the town square now. The group is small and the guide is local. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund.