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Ecuador 2006
Yesterday we rode the train from Riobamba to Alusi. We got to the the train station around 6 am and then pushed our way up to the top (yes we rode on the top of the tain.... to get the full effect). The ride was about 3 hours long and very bumpy. Luckily we rented some seat cusions for 1$. The ride was beautiful and breathtaking at times but I dont think I would take it again unless the tracks were renovated. Sometimes we would only be a few feet from sheer cliffs or going over bridges with missing planks. It was like an amusement park ride in America meant to look old, but this was just old.
Today we are heading back to Ambato to get our things. We are planning to head towards Puyo in the jungle but getting there is a little more difficult since the volcano is so active right now. The volcano is only a few miles from Banos, which is the town we need to drive through to get to Puyo. Bus schedules are all messed up but we will get there somehow.
*Kimmy*
Im attaching some articles about the volcano:
From: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/villagers-flee-ecuadors-throat-of-fire/2006/07/16/1152988412363.html
Villagers flee Ecuador's 'throat of fire'
Alonso Soto, Pingue
July 17, 2006
ECUADOR'S Tungurahua volcano spewed ash, gas and molten rock at the weekend, driving hundreds of evacuated villagers into nearby schools and churches in search of refuge.
Tungurahua, about 130 kilometres south of Quito, has been increasingly active since May, when it blew out big clouds of hot gas and prompted officials to renew a limited state of emergency in nearby towns.
Civil defence authorities and police continued to evacuate seven small villages round the volcano, whose name means "throat of fire" in the indigenous Quichua language.
Civil defence authorities said more than 3600 people had been evacuated from the areas of highest risk.
"We need water, food and medicine ... but we are lucky we had no deaths or people hurt," said Mayor Juan Salazar, of Pinipe county on the outskirts of the volcano.
A rain of molten rock over the weekend, which set fire to trees and grass, marked the volcano's strongest recorded activity since it began erupting in 1999, local scientists said.
Lava flows blocked roads and destroyed bridges while people fled their farming hamlets in the folds of 5020-metre Tungurahua.
Patricio Ramon, the chief scientist of the local geophysics institute, said the volcano was "entering a new and different stage with more violent releases of magma and energy".
During a four-hour visit to local villages, President Alfredo Palacio said the country needed to prepare "for the worst-case scenario" and promised $US5.7 million ($A7.5 million) in relief funds for the region.
REUTERS
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