Volcano Update 4: We Just Watched Popocatéptl Blow His Top!

About half an hour ago, Reed and I were sitting in the living room enjoying a glass of wine with cheese and crackers when all of a sudden, Reed exclaimed,

"Oh, my god!  Look at that! Popo is blowing his top! A minute ago, there was nothing, and now look!"

Popocatéptl 'exhalation' or eruption
August 6, 2012, at about 6:00 PM Central Time
Photo: Reed

We literally watched over the next five or ten minutes as the plume continued to rise straight up.

CENAPRED is the government agency that monitors Mexico's volcanoes and issues daily bulletins. When I checked just a few minutes ago, nothing had yet appeared.

You heard it here first!  How's this for an answer to that great question, "But what do you and Reed do in Mexico?" Let me put it this way: We're never bored!

Update: 10:00 PM

CENAPRED just issued its 8:00 PM Report, which emphasized that 'el coloso' registered nine 'exhalations' during the last twelve hours, adding that the one that occurred at 5:58 PM was of 'Considerable' intensity, such that CENAPRED warned of possible ash fall in several pueblos -- all downwind of us in Coyoacán.

This is the photo that accompanied the 8:00 PM Report. It was taken at the beginning of the 'exhalation'. Reed's photo (above) was taken a few minutes later from a different angle. Wild, no?

'Exhalation' from Popocatéptl at 5:58 PM
Photo: CENAPRED stationary camera

Popo and Presidential Election: Day 6

We published this post the day after the Mexican presidential elections on July 1. We are now updating the Still Curious? section  daily (scroll down) by adding  articles—from both English and Mexican press—that 'give voice' to this period of transition that will have a profound impact on both our homeland, the United States, and our host country, Mexico.  

* * * * *

Today Mexico's National Center for Prevention of Disasters (CENAPRED) reported that in the last twenty-four hours, the volcano Popocatéptl emitted one hundred fifty-five 'exhalations'. For the record, that's an extraordinary number. CENAPRED gives a daily update at 11:00 AM daily.

Today's update noted that the scientists considered six exhalations to be important. They occurred Sunday at mid-day; the others occurred between midnight and 10:00 AM today (Monday). CENAPRED's update also noted that the cloud cover that has obscured the volcano's crater had lifted, which allowed visual inspection of the volcano's crater for the first time in several days.

Popocatéptl's 'plume' caused by exhalation of water, gas and ash. Notice the snow cap. We've seen the cloud cover and given the cooler temperatures that arrived with the seasonal rains, snow on Popo's peak is understandable.

If you're a regular reader of Jenny's Journal, you know that the volcano [aka don Goyo, Popo and don Gregorio] has a real personality—even charisma—and that the campesinos who live on his flanks not only care for his well-being, but seek his protection as well.

Yesterday (July 1) was Election Day in Mexico. So somehow it stands to reason that Popo would make his presence known on a critical day of national decision-making!  

It's true: I've been distracted. 

Reed and I have been busy selecting, translating and posting articles from the Mexican press regarding the issues, political dynamics, candidates and ordinary people involved in the country's election process. The pieces are posted in the Mexico Voices (MV) blog that Reed launched on the first day of spring, March 21, 2012.

The purpose of Mexico Voices is to foster understanding among English-speaking readers by translating opinion pieces and other articles that 'give voice' to how Mexicans themselves see, analyze and make sense of what's happening in Mexico today.

Last week—in response to a question posed by many of Jenny's readers:  What's Happening in Mexico?—I wrote my first-ever editorial for the Mexico Voices (MV) blog. In it, I summarized the issues and provided links to relevant articles available in translation in Mexico Voices.  

Yesterday (Sunday, Election Day), the New York Times published a first-rate article by its Mexico correspondent, Damien Cave. Titled Pocketbook Issues Weigh Heavily as Mexicans Vote, Cave reports the stories of small business people from Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a city in the State of Mexico, next door to Mexico City. I value the article because its conclusions are consistent with the experiences of ordinary people we know in Mexico.

Mexico is understandably nervous, because it is the PRI party that maintained a seventy-year hegemony, running the country with an iron fist until it was deposed in 2000 by the PAN candidacy of Vicente Fox. Several commentators discuss this issue. Here are outstanding articles published today in Mexico Voices:

• This opinion piece by a thoughtful, seasoned Mexican political scientist sets a useful context and provides a superb overview of key issues and challenges: Mexico Elections: About the Vote and Humility;
• This article takes a hard look at the strengths/weaknesses shown by each of the political parties: Mexico Elections: Assessing the Results; 
• Short and sweet assessment: What happened yesterday? What are the questions going forward?;
• A Mexican entrepreneur—clearly an important participant in post-NAFTA Global Mexico--cautions the president-to-be and his party: Mexico Elections: Seven lessons for Peña Nieto and the PRI; 
• Positive collaboration between a UN group, Mexican NGOs and the government: UN-Supported 'Election Watch 2012' Reports Successful Monitoring - 1,300 Complaints Received; 
• It will be five months before the new president takes office (December). Here's a good summary of part of why the long lead-time: Virtual triumph of Peña Nieto has to be validated by Mexico Electoral Court; 
• Bare-bones description of 'unfinished business' facing Mexico's new Congress: Mexico Elections: 'Frozen' Reforms, the challenges for the new Congress. 

Yesterday (July 2, 2012) the New York Times published three pieces about the Mexican elections:

• Editorial: Mexico Elects a New President; 
• Enrique Peña Nieto Savors Long-Plotted Victory in Mexico by Randal C. Archibald, NYT Bureau Chief for Mexico, Central America Caribbean; 
• Opinion piece by Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's Next Chapter. A word of caution: In the U.S. an old saying warns, "Many's the slip 'twixt cup and lip", and "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." Mexico has a similar saying, "There's a split between rhetoric and reality...." Mexican politicians are famous for their eloquent phrasing of lofty ideals; unfortunately, actions needed to bring ideas to fruition in the real world are way too often in short supply;
• July 6, 2012: Amnesty International responds to Peña Nieto's Opinion piece, Tasks for Mexico's Leader. 

Still Curious?

Here are Mexico Voices translations of articles appearing in the Mexican press:

• Deceitful role of Mexican pollsters and the primary challenge facing Mexico's Left as it assumes the role of opposition: Mexico Elections: Legitimacy, Legality and Challenges;
• Specific challenges facing the PRD: Mexico Elections: The Double Triumph of the Mexican Left;  
• On the Left's Being the Opposition by Marta Lamas, anthropologist and feminist activist in Mexico; one of the founders of La Jornada and a leader in the women's rights movement;
• Mexico Elections: Hell Wins, by Javier Sicilia, poet-activist and founder of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity;
• For those curious to know more about Enrique Peña Nieto and his advisers: Mexico Elections: Peña Nieto's "Small, tight" Team.

In English:


Foreign Policy Journal published John M. Ackerman's article about Mexico's new president:  "The Return of the Mexican Dinosaur: Mexico's pretty-boy president is more dangerous than he looks". An insightful, engaging 'read': Highly Recommended.

Newsweek also published an article by John M. Ackerman: Obama Plays Risky Game in Mexico with Embrace of Enrique Peña Nieto. Good historical context and analysis of impact on US-Mexico relations: Highly Recommended.

New York Times Business Section: Numbers Tell of Failure in Drug War. "It's not good for business" seems to be the magic formula these days—making way for cautious, very cautious, optimism.

El Tiempero, 'The One Who Sees and Speaks Nicely with Popocatéptl'

This first-person profile of 'El Tiempero', the one who sees and speaks with the volcano Popocatéptl, is remarkable for the window it opens on Mexico's traditions, myths and legends. Reed has said, "Myths arise when man encounters the forces of nature."   

I have tried hard to preserve the flavor of the original Spanish which, at times, approaches the biblical. Popocatéptl has many nicknames, 'Popo'  is one, but he is most commonly referred to as Don 'Goyo' — the nickname for Gregorio. Click on the original Excelsior article for great photos and a videoclip.

Excelsior: SANTIAGO XALITZINTLA, Puebla, April 23 - The face of Antonio Analco betrays annoyance at the sight of outsiders wandering around his community, just because Don Goyo is "making a little noise."

A man with white hair under a hat he seldom removes and skin burned by the sun, he has spent more than six decades at the feet of the volcano Popocatépetl, listening to him purr, observing the winds and clouds. He says he doesn't understand why there is such alarm by exhalations and ashes, "if nothing is going to happen here."

Don Antonio Analco, El Tiempero, from the pueblo of Santiago Xalitzintla, a mere 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the volcano's crater. 

In the community he is known as El Tiempero, the one who can see and talk with Don Goyo, as did his father, Pedro Analco, his grandfather, Encarnación Analco, and his father and grandfather before him. His voice is the one that will announce to the people (those closest to the volcano) the moment when they will have to leave their lands, their fields and their work tools to take refuge in foreign territory.

"I am the only one who can speak with the volcano. Sometimes in dreams, and other times when he appears to me on the mountain. He has told me that I might be calm, not to alarm ourselves like the strangers who have come to our land. When 'The Creator' notifies him [Don Goyo] that the hour has come for him to get up [erupt], then the volcano will tell me in a dream. 

"He will tell me to go out with my people, to take my wife, children and animals and leave these lands. I already told those who came frightened from other pueblos that nothing is going to happen, that the bells did not ring, and that it will not be necessary to go out to the shelters," he says.

Don Toño chats with this reporter with the same calmness with which the women cross in front of his shop and greet him. Down the sidewalk skinny dogs roam with children trailing them. The music of a band, hired by the father of a teenage girl to celebrate her quinceañera (fifteenth birthday), makes it seem that Saturday might be a holiday.

Any little boy of Santiago Xalitzintla who might cross the path of a stranger knows where Don Antonio lives. Don Antonio Analco, the one who speaks with the volcano. Among little boys there is still curiosity about men with video cameras on their shoulders and institutional trucks prowling around City Hall. But in adults there is weariness and distrust. They do not understand how the National Center for Disaster Prevention — "with all its little machines" — can figure out if Don Goyo will stand up [erupt]. They know that it takes two: Antonio Analco and the volcano itself.

"In 1994 there were eruptions," recalls El Tiempero, "many police came and took many people by force. When I found out, I went to the officers and asked them very annoyed, 'Has Don Goyo appeared to you in dreams? Do you know what size it is? Would you say something? And then?' And they returned my people to me."

The man closes his little shop and accompanies this reporter on a walk. Twelve miles from the village, black smoke is observed leaving from the mouth of the volcano. The sound of the exhalation is similar to the sound an airplane makes if it passes close. It puts to work the camera crew that arrived last week from the Federal District. El Tiempero looks at them and smiles:

"Do they have more years than I? Do they know more about volcanoes?"

He also says that he was given his relationship with the volcano when he was in the womb.

"As a child I had dreams that I did not understand. Until one day I was bringing some cows to the mountain when an enormous man with snow-white hair appeared to me. He told me that his name was Gregory Chino Popocatépetl, that I was very small but that when I grew older I would have a wife and children, and that my destiny would be to communicate with him in order to serve as a messenger to my people."

He states that recently [the man] appeared. He asked if I was scared.

"I said 'no', and then he told me that I was to tell my people that they might be calm. I have told everyone, but those coming from Mexico City arrived with fear in the head."

And if the bells of the church ring? The question must be repeated several times in the ear of Juan Castro, of eighty and many yesterdays, holding a cane that he never puts down.

Sitting at the kiosk in Santiago Xalitzintla, Juan Castro mentions that he knew Pedro Analco, Antonio's father,

"a solid gold Tiempero. I knew him to speak nicely with Don Goyo. Like the time when a drought was wilting the corn, and we got together so Don Pedro might ask the volcano for favors. He asked us to come back with tequila, pulque, cigarettes and food, and we went up to Popocatépetl to make an offering. We hadn't yet made it down the mountain when a rain saved the crops. Or the other, when a cloud full of hail threatened our corn yet the ominous threat disappeared. Only those who speak with the volcano can do this."

Under the Ritual

Inhabitants of pueblos near Popocatépetl report that since ancient times, an old man who personifies the volcano and calls himself Gregory Chino Popocatépetl, usually appears in the area.

In a loving manner, he is called Don Goyo and, in agreement with residents of the area, it is he who appoints The Tiempero, who every year leads the birthday celebrations for Don Goyo, to whom are brought various gifts, such as food and drink, especially a gourd full of pulque.

This festival is held every March 12, which is the fiesta day of St. Gregory the Great. The ritual is also part of a ceremony in preparation for the formal request for rain, which is held on May 2.

Because of this year's volcanic activity, the gifts and offerings for Popocatepetl have been exceptionally bountiful.

On the Slopes

Santiago Xalitzintla is part of the municipality of San Nicolás de los Ranchos and is the town closest to the crater of Popocatépetl, twelve kilometers (a little over seven miles) away. Spanish original

Still Curious?

CNN Mexico ran a delightful article about the villagers' annual spring pilgrimage to a cave on the volcano's slopes in order to request the rains needed for good harvests and for protection against crop-destroying hailstorms. Given 'Popo's' increasing restiveness, this year the villagers' petitions carry special urgency: Maintaining tradition, villagers present offerings to calm Popocatéptl.

The interplay between human life and natural forces begins here: Geography: Ground of Mexico Culture and History. (All-time Reader Rank #2)

Cuicuilco is the site of perhaps the first ceremonial center in the Valley of Mexico; when the volcano Xitle erupted, Cuicuilco was buried:  Cuicuilco, Volcanoes and the Fragility of Life in Mesoamerica.

Poetry, science and mythology—this post is a Top-Ten All-time Reader Favorite: Mexico's Volcanoes and Mesoamerican Mythology.

We find the bond with nature right in our Coyoacán (Mexico City) neighborhood: Mesoamerican Culture: The Bond with Nature.

And: Mesoamerican Worldview: Nature and Spirit.

Still more....

Blogspot continues to update this template. On the right side of the screen are Tabs that open when you pass your cursor over them. The Topics tab lists all topics. Click to open all posts relating to a topic. Click on 'natural world', for example, for posts similar to those listed above.

Volcano Update 3: Popocatéptl Blows His Top

Milenio: Mexico City, April 28 • President Felipe Calderón reported that at 6:00 AM this morning,  Popocatépetl registered an eruption accompanied by incandescent material that traveled a thousand meters (slightly more than half a mile) to the east. 

Popo blowing his top

After the event, the volcano returned to a "stable, low level of activity." 

Meanwhile, the government of Puebla began distributing leaflets describing emergency evacuation procedures to inhabitants of the municipality of San Nicolas de los Ranchos, located on the volcano's slopes. 

"During our tour of San Nicolas de los Ranchos we heard the worries of the neighbors," tweeted the secretary of state of Puebla, Fernando Manzanilla. Spanish original

CENAPRED saw it coming....

Last night CENAPRED posted this incredible photo, including stars...
A reader wrote that Popo's activities remind her of The Little Prince with his 'three volcanoes that he cleaned every day'  

Milenio. Mexico, April 27 PM • Popocatépetl volcano is relatively calm with a slight emission of water vapor and gas to the southeast. The alert remains at Yellow-Phase 3, reported the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED). 

The agency said that in recent hours, the giant had nine low-intensity exhalations accompanied by emissions of water vapor, gas and small amounts of ash. 

In its 7:00 am report, CENAPRED indicated that the largest exhalations occurred Thursday night and early Friday morning. The agency also predicted the likelihood of explosive activity at a 'high to intermediate' scale. 

It envisages the growth of domes and possible expulsion of lava, explosions of increasing intensity and notorious ash fall on towns near the volcano. It recommended that inhabitants of the communities surrounding Popocatépetl avoid crossing the buffer zone of 12 kilometers, maintain controlled traffic between Santiago and San Pedro Nexapa Xalitzintla via Paso de Cortés and be aware of the operations of the Civil Protection authorities.  Spanish original

Volcanoes: Destructive and Creative Forces 

I'd not thought about volcanoes as other than destructive forces of nature until I read this description on the CENAPRED web site. The author is reflecting on why humans have settled close to volcanoes. One possibility is that there might have been an absence of evidence suggesting that a volcano had the potential to become active.

Volcanoes can remain inactive for extremely long periods of time—centuries, if not millenia—so when one again becomes active following an extremely long period of inactivity, which is what happened with Popocatéptl in 1994, human settlements are taken by surprise.

But the scientists suggest that this isn't the primary reason for human settlement on land close to volcanoes (my translation).

In contrast with other natural phenomena of destructive character, volcanic activity is one of the factors that has made our planet habitable. Among the positive effects of volcanic action, we can say that it has been a fundamental factor (among others) for the beginning of life on our planet. The volcanic release of gases from the planet's interior modified the atmosphere in ways that made possible life for beings whose metabolisms are based on carbon.

Volcanic products have always been essential for the formation of great quantities of fertile soil on great swathes of Earth. The restoration and remineralization of soil that occur with volcanic deposits is particularly evident throughout the densely populated volcanic areas that encircle our planet.  CENAPRED - Frequently Asked Questions about Popocatéptl

I recall that farmers in Michoacán within a 22-mile radius of the volcano Paricutín were unable to grow crops for the nine years that Paricutín was actively erupting, but farmers slightly farther away reported exceptionally bountiful crop yields during those same years, when the ash fell lightly on their fields.

So that concludes Jenny's Volcano Update for today!  I'm assuming you get the idea—we're never bored!

Volcano Update 2: More on Popocatéptl

Milenio. Puebla • The director of the National Center of Prevention of Disasters (CENAPRED), Roberto Quaas Weppen, announced an increase in activity of the volcano Popocatépetl. He emphasized that there is no immediate emergency, but observed that the heightened activity underscores the need for people to continue to stay alert. 

The director reported that yesterday morning the volcano registered almost two hours of high 'spasmotic tremors' that caused emission of higher density gas and ash 'exhalations', which flowed mostly to the sector south of the volcano.

In his press conference, the director noted that a dome of about one million cubic meters (1,307,971 cubic yards) of material has formed about 100 meters inside Popocatéptl's crater. Spanish original

Recently we had a very clear and cold (9 C;  48 F) night. In the morning, we wakened to one of those wondrously clear days that renew the spirit.

"Our" volcanoes, Popocatéptl and Iztaccíhuatl, were visible in sharp relief against the rosy, predawn sky.

Yes, this really is the view from the floor-to-ceiling window in  our living room.
 Iztaccíhuatl rests to the left with her head nearly at the left border; an extinct volcano forms her breast.
 Popocatéptl, the Smoking Mountain, is to the right.
LEFT CLICK to enlarge. The flat tops of two other extinct volcanoes are visible on the ridge line between Iztacc and Popo. One is at the left, just to the right of Iztacc's feet. The other is pretty much right smack in the middle of the enlarged photo. 

"Wow," Reed called out from the living room, "Popo is really smoking." And so he was!

At dawn Popocatéptl's gas and ash plume was blowing south.
(Left click to enlarge)
Note the distinctive flat-top craters of the other volcano discernible on the ridge line. Someday when we have time, we want to count exactly how many extinct volcanoes we can see from our apartment!
Photos: Reed

Don Goyo's 'Exhalations'

Popo emits gases and volcanic ash. The gases are toxic in the immediate vicinity of the volcano, but the volcano's altitude of 5,426 m (17,802 ft) and the altitude here in Mexico City—2,240 m (7,350 ft)—means that volcanic gases spewing forth 10,000 ft above the Valley of Mexico have sufficient time and space to dissipate. The net result is they don't present health risks.  

An 'eruption' is the emission of diverse hot material from the volcano, including gasses and rocks of various sizes. Volcanic ash is formed by pulverized volcanic rocks. Popo's eruptions to date have taken the following forms:

• Gas and vapor;
• Ash;
• Growth of a body of lava in the volcano's crater. 

Characteristic of Popocatéptl's activity are emissions that are mixtures of water vapor, gases and occasionally ash. These emissions are termed 'exhalations'.  They are usually of short (five minutes or less) duration and light, but occasionally take the form of explosions that launch larger volcanic fragments from the volcano's crater.

Rather Remarkable

We don't own a car, so we use taxis. Recently I've been asking our drivers what they think of Popocatéptl's activity. I have to admit that their responses are remarkably blase.  Yesterday the driver who brought me back from the supermarket responded with a dour growl, "Earthquakes are worse."

But I have to admit that for these two gabachos (Yanks), it's pretty exciting living beside a volcano—let alone a volcano with as much charisma as Popocatéptl—Popo, don Goyo, el Coloso (The Giant), Serafín, Don Gregorio!

We're even coming to understand why the original people who still live, as they always have, in pueblos on the flanks of the volcano are alert, but calm. They are accustomed to the periodic exhalations of el Coloso (The Giant).  Stay tuned!

Still Curious?

Jenny's Posts relating Popocatéptl's activity since April 16, 2012:

• Volcano Alert: Popocatéptl Increasingly Active
• Volcano Update: Don Goyo is still breathing....
• Volcano Update 3: Popo Blew His Top....

Jenny's Posts explore the historic impact of Volcanic Activity on Mexico's People:

• Cuicuilco (Valley of Mexico)
• Volcanic Activity and Mesoamerican Mythology
• Mexico's Fascinating Geography: Where it all begins....
• In Mexico a Volcano Rumbles, But Few Flinch:  Damien Cave is the New York Times Mexico correspondent. His articles shows how much he enjoys Mexico. For this article Damien ventured out to the pueblos on the flanks of Popocatéptl and spoke with inhabitants, whose point of view is unique!  Unfortunately, Damien is misinformed about the so-called Maya 'prophecy' that the world is to come to an end on December 21, 2012—but not to worry, here's Jenny's earlier post describing the archaeology and the history behind the Maya 'prophecy'.  

Volcano Update: 'Don Goyo' is still breathing....

Reed says we have 'Rear Orchestra' seats for monitoring Popocatéptl's activity. Of course, we're not alone.

CENAPRED (National Center for Prevention of Disasters), run by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), monitors the kinds of natural events that seem to abound in Mexico: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and cyclones, and the heavy rains that can cause flooding.

At first I thought CENAPRED is misnamed, but then I realized that their task is to provide the information that enables civil protection agencies and the general public to prepare itself to 'weather' extreme natural events. Popocatéptl, for example, is the most scrupulously monitored volcano in the world.

Multiple cameras photograph the volcano every 60 seconds. Here's a particularly dramatic shot captured in the early in the predawn hours of today by one of CENAPRED's cameras:

Popocatéptl lights up
Photo: CENAPRED

On a flight to D.F. from Florida last weekend, U.S. businessmen on their way to Mexico City anxiously queried Reed, "We've heard a volcano is about to erupt; is there any danger?"

The answer is, no, not really—at least, not for us here in Coyoacán. Nearly 40 miles from the volcano, most of Mexico City is upwind from 'Don Goyo' as he is familiarly and affectionately known locally, which means that the probability of ash blowing this way is minimal.

The colonial city of Puebla, however, is downwind from 'Popo'—yet another of the volcano's nicknames—and has been on the receiving end of falling ash.

But people know how to protect themselves—wear masks over nose and mouth to prevent inhaling the tiny particles; sweep roofs regularly to prevent the ash build-up sufficient to cause roofs to collapse; don't use water to flush ash—wet ash takes on the weight of cement!  And dispose of ash in plastic bags—ash clogs drains. Yes—ash falls are potentially a very big deal!

Regular news reports warn against becoming over-confident and urge the citizenry to stay alert for changes. Yesterday one report stated that a lava dome is forming in Popocatéptl that sooner or later  will erupt, but no one can predict when or—and I found this fascinating—how.

Every once in awhile folks in the U.S. ask us what we do in Mexico. Our usual answer is that we walk out our front door and...life happens...Mexican style!

But now our answer is a little different. After at least ten days of being pretty darned socked in, two days ago the air...and the skies...cleared, and we have been treated to ever-changing views of our two volcanoes:  Popocatéptl (active) and Iztaccíhuatl (extinct).

Yesterday afternoon, Reed spent the better part of an hour—or more!—capturing on film Popocatéptl's plume at dusk.

Popocatéptl's Plume at Dusk, Monday April 23, 2012
Photo: Reed

The CENAPRED web site is well-organized, attractive—including a list of Frequently Asked Questions that give important information in highly readable, easy-to-understand Spanish. The last point is "Seek out reliable information—neither believe nor repeat rumors."

Stay tuned!

Volcanic Alert: Popocatéptl Increasingly Active

We've lived in Mexico City for eight months. From our living room window we've watched with fascination the "smoking mountain", Popocatéptl, live up to his name—sending gassy plumes into the sky. Recently, we've noticed that Popo—as he is familiarly called—seems to be belching rather more than usual.

Following activity on April 16, 2012, the National Disaster Prevention Center raised the warning system from Yellow-Phase 2 to a Yellow-Phase 3, because the volcano had been intermittently spewing incandescent rocks—glowing rocks! A snowstorm the previous night held the flow of ash, water and molten rocks to about a quarter of a mile.

Yellow-Phase 3 indicates the probability of observing explosive activity at intermediate to high levels, the growth of domes and possible explosions of lava, as well as ash falls over the surrounding countryside.  

Beginning at 6:30 AM on April 18, 2012, Popo began emitting a "train" of expulsions that lasted for two and a half hours. But el Coloso (the Colossus) wasn't quite through making his statement for the day.

Popocatéptl's smokey plume, April 18, 2012 (CNN). This photograph was probably taken from east of the volcano, perhaps near Puebla. In Mexico City, the smog is so thick we can't see Popocatéptl during the day. This morning at dawn, I saw both volcanoes through 'haze'.

At 10:07 AM Popo generated an earthquake registering 3.4 on the Richter scale. The tremors continued for 40 minutes.  Although the quake's intensity was relatively low, it seems that 40 minutes is a very long time to feel the ground moving under your feet.

Coyoacán is about 35 miles west of Popocatéptl. We didn't feel the movement.

Mexico's Vulnerability to Natural Forces

We've written before about Mexico's vulnerability to natural forces, but now seems a good time to review the current challenges:

• March 20 Earthquake: Aftershocks continue, some are substantial.
• Severe Drought: Northern states, including Chihuahua and Zacatecas, are facing severe shortages that are forecast to persist for some time. 
• Volcanic Activity:  Popocatéptl has become increasingly active.
• Hurricane Season: June to November puts Mexico's Gulf states and the Yucatán Peninsula in the front line of possible hurricanes.
• Floods: When the heavy, tropical rains arrive, they bring the threat of floods, especially to the Gulf states. 

Today state and federal governments made a show of preparedness in anticipation of additional volcanic activity.

don Goyo o Serafín

About 68,000 people live in pueblos on the flanks of Popocatéptl. So far, inhabitants appear to be maintaining the normal routines of daily life, albeit with eyes and ears attuned to the volcano. It is said that there are elders in this indigenous communities whose special relationship with the volcano enables them to know when it is about to erupt.

Before the arrival of the Spanish, a cult was dedicated to exclusive worship of the god of the volcano, who is today known as don Goyo or Serafín, in his post-Spanish indigenous personification.  A small, symbolic cult survives today. Its members are known as tiemperos del volcán Popocatéptl, or temperos of the volcano Popocatéptl.

Tiempero refers to 'readiness of the soil for planting', so the tiemperos of Popocatéptl are those who celebrate rites in the sacred sanctuaries, located in the rivers, streams and forested areas on the volcano's flanks. Rituals are performed not only to seek the blessing of the life-sustaining rain but to ask the deity's protection against the threat of the hail that can fall like knives, shredding corn and bean crops in the fields.

This primal link to an ancient god of water, Tlaloc, is noteworthy. Water in all its forms is arguably the very foundation of spiritual thought throughout the lands and peoples of Mesoamerica. In Pátzcuaro, I was told that to this day los ancianos (the Elders) say, El agua es vida (Water is life).

We were taken aback by a chance remark made by our artist friend Debra Breckeen, who lives in Zirahuén, near Pátzcuaro, Michoacán — words to the effect that, "Water will be the next battle." Sadly, this is an under-reported global battle whose opening skirmishes are being felt even today in the Southwest United States.

What's the situation in Coyoacán-Mexico City?

We're about 35 miles northwest of the volcano. The expulsions are blowing east/northeast, so we're fine. We're hoping that the air will clear—which it will as soon as the rains arrive in earnest—so we can see what's happening.

Photo from space. Directionality is 'off' 90-degrees: North is to the right; West is straight up. Arrows point to Popo and to the drift of Ash Cloud north; Mexico City is west of the volcano (up). Left click to enlarge image.

It's hard to believe, but in 1994, when Popocatéptl also erupted, I was on a two-year contract with Pemex, the Mexican Oil Company.  Perhaps I can be forgiven for wondering whether I really am la patrona de la mala suerte (patroness of bad luck), as a taxista in Pátzcuaro dubbed me a couple of years ago!  This linked post is one of my all-time favorites because it is muy mexicano—very Mexican!

Still Curious?

Popocatéptl—Recent Activity:

• This report from The Inquisitr is objective, factual and cites other reputable news sources.
• UTube video (2:04) of Popo's 'plume' shot from a commercial airliner—have a little patience as the video shot by this amateur cameraman tends to go in and out of focus.  
• Internet report includes satellite photo. 

Impact of Volcanic Activity on Mexico's People:

• Cuicuilco (Valley of Mexico)
• Volcanic Activity & Mesoamerican Mythology
• Mexico's Fascinating Geography: Where it all begins....
• In Mexico a Volcano Rumbles, But Few Flinch:  Damien Cave is the New York Times Mexico correspondent. His articles shows how much he enjoys Mexico. For this article Damien ventured out to the pueblos on the flanks of Popocatéptl and spoke with inhabitants, whose point of view is unique!  Unfortunately, Damien is misinformed about the so-called Maya 'prophecy' that the world is to come to an end on December 21, 2012 — but not to worry, here's Jenny's earlier post describing the archaeology and the history behind the 'prophecy'.