Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Ecuador 2006
Wow, what an afternoon! We arrived in Riobamba today. We plan to check out the town tomorrow and then ride the famed train down the devils nose mountain on Sunday.
While walking around town this afternoon a man grabbed my arm and told me to turn around and look behind me, the Tungurahua volcano was spewing ash everywhere and as I type (its dark now) you can see the fire and lava flying out the top of it... all the way from here in Riobamba! The TV news is on and Im seeing a close up image of the volcano throwing out rocks and lava. People are out on the streets to watch. I am not worried because I believe we are in a safe area, about 1 hour from the base of the volcano... which is in Banos where I dont think we will visit now for obvious reasons.
People tell us it is safe but Id rather not find out. When we saw the volcano with the ash plume we hailed a taxi right away and had the driver take us to a place where we could see the volcano better. We met some people in our hotel from Montana and in a few minutes we are all planning on taking a taxi back up there to watch the lava show!
Dont worry mom, Im not that daring to get any closer to the volcano! We will re-route and most likely not visit Banos this year.
Kimmy
Tungurahua is an active stratovolcano also known as the "The Black Giant." It has a 600 ft. (183 m) wide crater. Most of the volcano is covered by snow. Its causes many tremors in the nearby city of Banos. Tungurahua's lava is mostly composed of basalts. Tungurahua has had at least seventeen eruptions in historical times, its most recent occurring in 1944 when it erupted explosively from its central crater. Located about 25 miles (~40 km) west of Tungurahua is the largest volcano in Equador, Chimborazo and to the north about 50 miles(~80 km ) is Cotopaxi volcano.
(http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/ecuador/tungurahua.html )
- comments