I razu's most recent and most famous eruption was in 1963 when President John Kennedy visited Costa Rica. The eruption lasted for 2 years costing the country about $150 million. It threw tephra and sent secondary mudflows through cultivated land. 40 people were killed and many homes and some factories were destroyed. Ash was thrown up in the air and "rained" down in valley turning the air black. The eruption's ash clogged up a nearby river, flooding Cartago. It also destroyed much of the coffee crop. The first written record of an eruption was in 1723.