As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Miriam Balsley, narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie, is presently in Guatemala undertaking a Spanish Language Intensive. It turns out that she’s experiencing more than she expected because the country has recently had a volcanic eruption of a volcano she climbed last month, a 30-story deep sinkhole at an intersection in the middle of Guatemala City, and the tail end of the first hurricane of the season, Tropical Storm Agatha that led to landslides.
Miriam tells me that the land that slid is not so much mud as volcanic. It is more loosely packed than the earth I’m used to.
Her photographs of the devastation caused by the landslides are quite amazing. Right in the middle of the town of Jaibalito there is nothing left but dirt. Same with a field of banana trees. A swath of devastation right down the middle with trees standing on either side of the landslide as if nothing happened. Amazing!
And, garbage – tons of it!
Click here to take a look at Miriam’s amazing on-site photos.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
As I said in my May 28, 2010 post, Miriam Balsley, the host and narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie is presently in Guatemala. Last month, she climbed Pacaya, the Guatemala City volcano that recently erupted killing three people.
Because of Miriam’s experience with the volcano, I have been noticing reports of unusual volcanic activity such as recent eruptions in Equador and the troublesome volcano in Iceland that is wreaking havoc with European air travel.
I wondered if this recent volcanic activity was greater than normal. My mind was beginning to conjure fantasies about increased volcanic activity as an indication of the beginning of prophesied earth upheavals.
Well, I received my answer in a public television network program on megavolcanoes. It turns out that the earth, on average, has about 50 volcanic eruptions every year. That puts things in perspective as far as the Guatemala, Equador, and Iceland volcanoes go. Whew, sigh of relief!
But, these yearly volcanic eruptions, according to the Megavolcano program, are tiny compared to infrequent but devastating megavolcano eruptions. The megavolcanoes build up for thousands, maybe even millions, of years, before they unleash their fury, destroying all in their path.
To my surprise, one of the biggest megavolcanoes is under Yellowstone National Park.
The caldera that underlies Yellowstone National Park—”caldera” essentially means humongous crater—is over 50 miles long and nearly 30 miles wide. You could fit four Manhattans placed end to end inside. The amount of magma, or molten rock, thrown out by its most recent supereruption 640,000 years ago was a staggering 240 cubic miles, with an ash volume two to three times that.
THE NEXT BIG ONE BY PETER TYSON
What could we expect if a supereruption were to occur today?
This is the scary part. Evidently scientists have determined that the Yellowstone megavolcanoe erupts every 600,000 years. It has been 640,000 years since the last eruption. Oops! That means that Yellowstone could explode any time now.
Would this be a fulfillment of the Virgin Mary’s prediction in Garabandal Spain of a devastation of the earth next time by fire?
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
Miriam Balsley, narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie is in Guatemala taking intensive Spanish Language classes.
I knew she had climbed a Guatemala volcano or two or three with a guide. However, I assumed she was no where near the rock and ash-spewing Volcano Pacaya. Still, I felt relieved when I received an email from her saying that she was safe and far from Pacaya.
However, she did climb Pacaya a couple of months ago. Her guided roasted a marshmallow over a scorching crack in the surface of the peak. She writes of her experience on the Guatemala Volcano:
It didn’t matter that there was no actual lava flowing today. Perhaps another time. The 2 foot hole blasting heat was proof of the intensity that lay brewing below us. And the marshmallows were pretty good too. But talk about being a pro cooker. If you left them longer than a second, they instantaniously went up in flames.
For Miriam’s photos of the Guatemala Volcano, follow the link: http://miriamtravel.blogspot.com/2010/04/volcano-pacaya.html”>Volcano Pacaya
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved