Puyehue Ash

I have mentioned it before several times, but the effects and images from the ongoing Puyehue eruption are amazing. There are several websites that make daily predictions of the direction of the ash cloud, but like weather forecasting, it is not always reliable. No one really knows when it is going to end. The eruption did not come out of a central crater, but rather a 12km long seam below the summit. Apparently there is not much experience here in the Andes with this type of eruption so consequently they are not sure how much longer they are stuck in this mess. It is just everywhere.

The ash on the roads. It is piled up along the sides and pushed off the surface by graders in the same way we clear snow. It mixes with the gravel and makes huge clouds every time a car, truck, or bus goes over it. It is impossible to see through the cloud, and even harder to breathe. I have been blowing ashen soot out of my system for several days. It gets into all the bike gears and gums them up quite well. At the end of the ride, you are covered in this fine abrasive dust from head to toe.

We have seen:
- fields and happy little forests with leaves dusted as if by Bob Ross
- cows standing in their pastures with ash piled on their back
- campgrounds that were likely green, now just dusty ash
- wispy ash clouds coming off mountain tops like spindrift off Everest
- mountain passes that look like the Rockies in color, but this 'snow' will not melt any time soon
- lakes covered in ash and pumice that leave no ripple when you throw a rock in
- houses with more than a foot of ash still piled up on the roof.
- forests near the volcano that are stripped bare and dead from the hot ash that initially fell
- allowing a breeze into your cabana ends up covering everything with a fine gray powder that does not always wipe off well.
- a fine dust that is getting int all my electronic stuff, the camera lens, the iPad FW port

Just think of every snowfall scene you can picture, now replace the snow with ash. Pretty amazing to see the effects up close. We all hope that it ends soon.

- UnclePhool, Dave, and Deniece