Bad weather...

The views this morning from where we camped were incredible. We were at about 3200m.

We started working on the section and had to dig down to see as many units as possible. Each unit is a different eruption deposit, and each is characterised by type (pumice or ash), colour, grain size etc. It’s quite easy to distinguish between units, it’s just not that easy naming them and correlating them to what’s been described before!

Digging deep holes at altitude isn’t that easy so we were taking it in turns. After a bit, we could here the bulldozer fixing the track further back, so Carlos went off to speak with them, and came back with the bulldozer trundling along behind. It completely cleared the section for us and saved us a lot of digging!!

We were busy measuring and describing and sampling, when we heard this rumbling sound. Carlos thought initially it was a storm in the distance, but it just kept going. Wide eyed, I asked if it could be the volcano. We looked at each other and then Carlos went for his camera and wanted to go and look, I was with him, and Ivan wanted to go back to the truck first and radio in. We decided to go and check it out. The most likely thing it would be is the dome collapsing and block and ash lava flows, so we’d be safe. If it were bigger we’d have no doubt about it. The boom from the 2005 explosion blasted out the windows of a church 15km away! And that wasn’t a massive eruption. So we walked (I skipped more than walked!) to where we saw the volcano yesterday… Nothing. We couldn’t even see it! It turns out it was just rock falls from another bulldozer! Duh!

We managed to get another section in before it started snowing at around 2. We headed up to the campsite, and by then it was a blizzard. Carlos, being a man from the tropics where the average winter temperature is 28°C and the average summer temperature is 38°C, was not happy driving in this. Ivan was keen to stay in the Jalisco Civil Protection authority hut on top of Nevado de Colima. They keep an eye on the volcano, and look after the National Park. To get there though, we would have to drive up a track with very tight turns, and steep drops on either side – again Carlos was not happy about this. He asked the guys and they said we’re welcome to use the hut when we needed, but Carlos decided he’d rather leave because he thought the weather was set in for a couple of days. So back to Colima, a hot shower and a comfy bed…

When we asked about staying at the top, we were told about an accident, which happened yesterday. A car packed full of tourists went over the edge down into a ravine. All 7 people in it died. It’s a 15km drive down from Nevado to the main road, and they didn’t know how to drive on steep roads using their gears, so they sat on the brakes the whole way. On the last corner the brakes went, and they went straight over the edge. Tragic. There should be better control. These people have absolutely no idea of the dangers – the roads, the cold, and the active volcano. Absolutely oblivious.