POTD: Volcán de Fuego

From 2018 01 27 Guatemala

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the base of Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala, as it looked in January. During the hour or so it took us to drive past the volcano to Antigua, we saw three or so such small eruptions. Our tour guide, who lives in Antigua, said the volcano was active almost every day. At night, the molten lava might light up the peak. During the day, puffs of smoke and ash like this. But we were told that there were no large eruptions for the last century. I considered it a tourist attraction along the lines of Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. Well all that changed on June 3, 2018, when the volcano had a major eruption, "unleashing a fast-moving mix of ash, rock and volcanic gases" that left at least 99 dead and 192 still missing. What had been a fascinating tourist attraction for us suddenly became deadly for those who lived in the mountain's shadow.