Rumbling rocks
The last couple of weeks have been eventful geologically. Almost two weeks ago Pacaya volcano, which I visited earlier in my trip, erupted. The new flow of lava came down below the tree line but did not reach the villages. Visits to the volano are continuing in spite of the "Yellow alert", and my housemate was brave enough to go, but the scenery has changed dramatically and it now isn´t possible to walk on the lava. the authorities have not yet decided to evacuate the surronding villages but are monitoring the situation. The news story is here:
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/agosto/01/148277.html
On Wednesday night there was a tremor in Antigua at around 2am but since there hasn´t been an earthquake since 1976 here no one seems too worried. This morning I was woken by what I thought was a house falling down - after all we had just had a tremor - but in fact it turned out to be Fuego Volcano grumpling.
There are three volcanoes in the area surrounding Antigua: Fuego, Pacaya and Agua. Fuego and Pacaya are both still live and periodically emit smoke, lava or debrit. Agua last erupted in 1541 and destroyed the ancient capital so that it was moved to the current location of Antigua (it was moved again to it´s current site in the 18th century after a large earthquake).
I have organised a trip to Agua with some other students from the school this weekend. It is the largest volcano at 3,760m above sea level and takes about 5 hours to climb. We plan to hike up on Saturday, camp in the crater overnight and then come down on Sunday morning. The mornings tend to have clearer weather and the sunrise promises to be spectacular. If the visibility is good we may be able to see both the Pacific ocean and the Carribean sea from the top. We may also get a bird´s eye view if Feugo or Pacaya decide to errupt.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/agosto/01/148277.html
On Wednesday night there was a tremor in Antigua at around 2am but since there hasn´t been an earthquake since 1976 here no one seems too worried. This morning I was woken by what I thought was a house falling down - after all we had just had a tremor - but in fact it turned out to be Fuego Volcano grumpling.
There are three volcanoes in the area surrounding Antigua: Fuego, Pacaya and Agua. Fuego and Pacaya are both still live and periodically emit smoke, lava or debrit. Agua last erupted in 1541 and destroyed the ancient capital so that it was moved to the current location of Antigua (it was moved again to it´s current site in the 18th century after a large earthquake).
I have organised a trip to Agua with some other students from the school this weekend. It is the largest volcano at 3,760m above sea level and takes about 5 hours to climb. We plan to hike up on Saturday, camp in the crater overnight and then come down on Sunday morning. The mornings tend to have clearer weather and the sunrise promises to be spectacular. If the visibility is good we may be able to see both the Pacific ocean and the Carribean sea from the top. We may also get a bird´s eye view if Feugo or Pacaya decide to errupt.
posted by Brigitte at 9:35 PM
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