Volcan

Jake took this photo of a tree growing out of a rock. Nice job Jake!

It took about 30 minutes to hike up the mountain. We started about 8:30 in the morning so it was cool in the shade, but that disappear within the hour. Behind Jake are several pine trees. this area of Mexico looks much like eastern Oregon and even having pine forest in the mountains. They look like Ponderosa Pine.

Ranufol, geography teacher is explaining the history behind this volcano (volcan in Spanish). The Jorullo is a cone volcano with a crater 500 meters in width and 150 meters deep. We are standing on the crater wall where the lava flowed out from in September 29, 1759. Prior to that eruption, this area was a flat fertile valley farmed by the Don Pedro. Two rivers disappeared the first night of the eruption and continue to flow underground and emerge in geyser form with a temperature of 52 C or 125 F. We hiked down into the crater and could feel the hot rocks and steam coming from vents. Not something that we really wanted since we were already hot from the hike.

The class was able to hike out onto the lava flow which covers a 9 km (6 mile) area on the north side of the mountian. There is a large drop to the valley floor just a few feet from the students pictured in the distance of this photo.

Three students stand on the top of a church steeple that was covered by lava during the eruption. It is the only evidence left of the ranchero (small village) that once inhabited this place.

Mike