Volcan de Colima

Volcan de Colima
Cofradia de Suchitlan
March 1, 2015 

Volcan de Colima or Fuego

About 20 kilometers away from Cofradia, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. I stare up at a massive piece of earth, pushing rock and lava down its sides and smoke out of the top. As we are pulling up to a gas station, the volcano belches and up shoots another massive plume. I wonder how volcanoes work. If you are wondering as well then read this blog.

There are three main types of volcanoes. One is a divergent plate volcano. This is when two plates are moving apart and lava flows up through a gap. Iceland has good examples of this type. Another type is a hot spot or shield volcano. This is when a plate moves over a hot spot in the earths core. Lava flows up to the surface and forms a volcano. The Hawaiian islands are made up of shield volcanoes. The lava flows to the surface very slowly and builds to form the island. The last type is a stratovolcano. They are formed when one plate subducts underneath another and creates friction which forces lava up to the surface. There are 7 or 8 major plates on earth that are floating on magma. Volcan de Colima is a stratovolcano.

There are three major types of explosions from stratovolcanoes. The first is effusive which is when lava slowly flows down the side of the volcano. These don't kill many people. Lava can reach a couple kilometers from the volcano. The second type is an explosive or souffiere type eruption. These can be large and have significant pyrocastic flows. Pyrocastic flows are a mix of hot gas and rock that travel close to the ground. They can be big or small. The last type are plinian or sub-plinian. These are massive eruptions that are very rare. Mt. St. Helens (Santa Helena in Spanish) and Mt. Pinatubo in the Philipines are examples of these big eruptions. These were named after Pliny the Younger who saw Mt. Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii, Italy in 79AD. His dad, Pliny the Elder, died in the eruption.

Volcan de Colima  has a height of 3,839 meters (some people call Fuego which means fire) and its brother, Nevada de Colima  has a height of 4320 meters. Some people call it Nieve means snow in Spanish. It is a dormant volcano. It is located on the continental plate. It was formed by an oceanic plate going under the continental plate. This is called subduction. This creates friction that forces magma up to the surface. There have been major plinian eruptions 8 or 9 times over the past 30,000 years. Sub-plinian eruptions at Volcan de Colima happen every 100 years or so. The last big one was in 1913 when a few people and lots of cows died.  So we are due for a big one. The volcano has been very active lately and we see big fumarolas, or plumes every day. A volcanologist told us that these were more superficial blasts from the top half of the volcano and that they were not a sign of the big one being near.

Start of a puff

You can see the trail of pyrocastic flow. The lahars flow down these.

One of the main dangers of the volcano is lahars or mud flows. They occur in the rainy season around here (June-October) when heavy rains wash down all the rock and ash and create flash floods. These torrents can move rocks bigger than cars. There are lots of rivers filled with rock from the lahars. One is near a town called la Becerera. A few years ago, a lahar filled up a house and two kids barely escaped.

As I sit in the car at the gas station I'm amazed by the size and power of the volcano looming in front of me but on the other hand I'm scared that this big piece of rock will explode and destroy the beautiful land. It's interesting to learn about how the volcano was made and how it grows every day. Still I sure wouldn't want to be here when that thing blows up. Thanks for reading.

Here is a link to a video of the volcan- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHNQB8-mvQw

Volcano Alert Sign. They are always on yellow which means be alert.

Nevada de Nieve covered with nieve.

We saw an eruption just like this while camping one night.

Can you say Fumarola?

My mom got to do a plane flight above the volcano

New Years Eve, Mexican Independence and
El Grito
Guanajuato Jan 2015

Historic Guanajuato

 Earlier in January, my dad, mom sister and I went to Guanajuato, an old mining town in central Mexico. My uncle Russ and his family met up with us as well. Guanajuato has a lot of narrow streets, called callejones, with lots of stairs. To get to the house where we were staying, you had to climb 73 steps!.  We were there for New Years' so decided to head into town to check it out. Fireworks explode everywhere as I trudged with my parents and cousins, Dane and Nolan into the center of town. I look down at my watch 11:30. We step into a little shop and get some exotic ice cream. The square is completely packed with people.  "Told you so," I tell my dad, who didn't think it would be too crowded. We continue our saga across the square, left, right, forward, left.... we go trying to work our way through the huge mob of people. "This harder than going the wrong way on a freeway," I say in my head. I look down at my watch 11:48, "We should start heading home," I think then we all agreed. We take a short cut through side streets. We think we are lost then bang we are in the square right next to our house. We were back just in time to exclaim "Happy New Year."

The next day, we drove out to a town about an hour away, called Dolores Hidalgo. The road to Dolores is pretty windy and steep. I'm the first one out of the car. Fresh air is the best invention. We all start walking toward the middle of town. I look back and see one of my cousins puking on the sidewalk.  Suddenly, I'm not so hungry.  As we get to the main square, we see little ice cream stands all over the place. My stomach is settling and we grab some lunch. Cesar salad and fries. Afterwards, my dad told us to stand on the church steps for a photo. It was on these same steps where one man helped start Mexican Independence with a speech called "El Grito". So I am gonna give you a short history of Mexican Independence.

Statue of Miguel Hidalgo- Father of Mexican Independence

Recreating ""El Grito with my sister and cousins on the steps of the church in Dolores Hidalgo

In 1518, Herman Cortes came from Spain with a small army and conquered Mexico and the Aztec empire. Spain ruled Mexico for the next 300 years, calling it "New Spain".  Miguel Hildalgo was a Roman Catholic priest in central Mexico in the early 1800's. His speech on the steps of the church in Dolores Hildalgo was one of the most famous moments in Mexican history.  In 1810, Hidalgo gave this famous speech, calling for all the poor and indigenous people to join with him and fight the Spanish. He rang the church bells to bring all his supporters together. They fought and battled the Spanish all the way to Mexico City. Instead of attacking the city, they retreated. This turned the tide and Hildalgo and his allies started losing battles. They were pushed all the way back to the Mexican border. Eventually, he was killed and his head was hung with the heads of three of his generals in Guanajuato for 5 years. The next 10 years were filled with lots of guerrilla warfare. Peasants would attack the Spanish army whenever they got a chance. Many people were killed. Finally in 1821, a Spanish general named  Agustin Iturbide, proposed a truce that would give Mexico independence. The Treaty of Iguala was signed in 1821 and the country of Mexico was formed. Iturbide was Mexico's first president.

Painting of El Grito- by Jose Orozco in Guadalajara

We finished up our tour with a taste of some of the famous helado in the main square of Dolores Hildalgo. History sure is fun.

Walking in beautiful Guanajuato

Nice square in Guanjuato

Awesome Beisbol field in Guanajuato