Sunday, July 20, 2008

earth shaking


Today I visited an amazing site: Paricutin. It's a volcanic field that used to be the towns of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro until 1943, when a farmer felt the earth shake and then saw a crack in the earth appear before him. Within days, a volcano erupted. A year later, the town was covered in lava. Nobody in the towns died, and the people relocated to a nearby location. (The whole story can be found if you click on "Paricutin" above - as well as some pretty terrific historical photos.)

Now, what's left of the old towns is the remains of the church of San Juan, jutting out of lava rock. Our group rode horses down into the rocks surrounding the ruins (Mariachi, my horse, liked to gallop), and then we walked around and in the caverns of the church. The smoke from nearby barbecued corn filled the air, and our voices echoed around the rocks. Check out the photos on flickr. I left feeling exhilarated and amazed...

Today we also went to a Parque Nacional and Paracho (a town famous for guitar craftsmanship). Now I'm back in wet Morelia.

I still smell like Mariachi.

No comments: