Electricity...For Now

Well, our electricity is already back on! What we were expecting to be a minimum two-day ordeal turned into just 14 hours. We are very grateful, but still half expecting another power outage at any time. Volcano Tungarahua is the cause of all the problems. It has been more active than it had been in years and causing problems all over Ecuador. The ash plume it sent off earlier this week went 15 km into the air and could be seen in satellite photos. There is ash falling on many towns causing breathing problems, car problems, electricity problems and even closing down runways. We've heard there are at least 12 dead and 60 missing, complete towns/villages destroyed, landslides, flash floods, and lava flows taking out monuments and roads! Of course, we take everything that we hear down here with a grain of salt, knowing that rumors and gossip can really exaggerate the truth! It is certain that the volcano is more active than it has been in a while. Back in 1999, there was a similar scare (though not quite as bad as this time) and the town of Baños (among other small villages in the area) was evacuated. Because nothing serious came of that threat there are many who refuse to evacuate this time because they feel it is all just an overeation. Several of those that did evacuate Baños were said to have turned right back around when they heard that there was looting going on in the empty houses left behind. It is hard to know if this volcano will ever erupt seriously and wipe out the quaint town of Baños and the surrounding area as many fear it will or if it will just continue to taunt everybody with threatening belches of ash, rock, and lava. Time will tell. But for the time being we have electricity...while several families are now without their homes or loved ones. It is hard to grasp what is happening just 30 miles up the road.

Here is a recent article on the volcano's activity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungurahua

By the way, Brooklyn is much better. It must have been a 24-hour bug and we are glad to see her back to normal. She hardly ever gets sick, so we tend to freak out every time she acts just a bit under the weather. We had heard there was a stomach bug going around but thankfully all she had was a fever and general malaise.