Volcan Fuego

Today the most amazing thing happened, I saw a volcano begin to erupt!  Volcano Fuego is only 8 miles southwest of Antigua and looking out across the skyline during my break in class, I along with many other people noticed clouds of smoking piling up in the sky.  We ran out into the street and for the next half hour we stood in awe as billows of smoke were pushing out of the top of the volcano.  Listening to the news, I found out that there is smoke and ash coming from the top of the volcano along with streams of lava and rocks shooting into the air!

No worries, I am safe in Antigua.  Although the volcano is only 8 miles away, the shape of the volcano guides the lava and ash towards the opposite side of Antigua so it affects multiple towns miles away from me.  The lava will not flow towards Antigua, but the seismic activity caused by this eruption could cause small earthquakes.

I've never seen a volcano before until I came here, and I now I can say that I had the chance to see a volcano erupt!  It is amazing to see the amount of smoke and ash that can come out of the top of a volcano and stand in peace knowing that I can't be hurt directly from it.  It is a little unsettling to not know what effects may come from this eruption, but we are all hoping that the volcano slowly leaks out rather than explode.  I've been told that its a good sign to see smoke constantly billowing out because it means that the volcano has no chance to build up pressure and suddenly let it lose.

Here are some pictures of the volcano.  The volcano shouldn't be too hard to pick out :)