This video of Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano will blow your mind

If your daily experience of Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano, like that of many residents of central Costa Rica, consists of dusting layers of volcanic ash from your windshield, plants or patio – or if, like this writer, you have lost a laptop to persistent ashfall – it can be easy to forget that the source of this daily annoyance is actually awesome, in the true sense of that word.

This video will change all that. Cusuko Fotografía compiled the images from several months of its footage. Shot in part at the Hacienda La Central – Volcán Turrialba, the video provides a closeup view and breathtaking time-lapse footage of the active volcano, east of San José.

“I’ve gone many times to take in this imposing colossus… the weather has not always been optimal, but I always enjoy being there,” photographer Iván Salazar Cusuko’s wrote in the Facebook post where he shared the video. “I’ve experienced sun, water, ashfall or strong volcanic odors. Then I began working with Volcanes Sin Fronteras-VSF, an important NGO, where I have been helping with the collection of samples and some footage.”