Saturday, July 15, 2006

Volcano Tungurahua

We were going to go to Ambato this morning to do some monthly type shopping. It is a fairly big city about 1.5-2 hours drive to the East of us. As we were getting gas just before leaving, the gas station lady and a customer told us that the road is closed to Ambato because of Tungurahua erupting. I have never been able to get a good picture of Tungurahua because of clouds, but it is only about 40 miles away from us as the crow flies. Sangay and El Altar are the other two volcanoes close to Shell at about 30 miles away respectively. I noticed last night from our kitchen window a huge plume of smoke from Tungurahua and thought that it looked bigger than usuall. I guess there is a reason, and it was reported that from the other side of Tungurahua you could see a good fireworks show last night. Lava and smoke were pouring forth. Supposedly the road may open back up at 1pm this afternoon, but that is too late for us to leave. I don't like to drive at night regardless of what country I am in, and if we left after 1pm, we would surely be returning at night back to Shell. So I guess this means we might try again tommorow, or we will just have to wait until next weekend to go shopping.

So, in the meantime, we don't have a lot to do today. It is raining pretty good, which dampens any outdoor plans like swimming or hiking. So we will probably be piddling in the house today. You never know what a day may bring, or what volcano decides to start erupting.

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