Apologies to Malcolm Lowry. After a long day (and night) getting here and arriving just in time for an eruption of Fuego in the morning followed by a 5.7 quake in the afternoon, I thought about entitling this piece Holidays in Hell, but I’d have to apologize to P J O’Rourke instead. After a fierce lightning storm 2 days later (a few strikes next door and across the street) along with torrential rain, it certainly was tempting. But really, this place is not anything like the articles in O’Rourke’s book. The earthquake was minor (this time), the volcano though continues to spew a lot of stuff and we have a bird’s eye view from the deck of our current airB&B. And it’s quite spectacular at night when large gouts of molten stuff fly out the top.
The following images are from Daniele Vlope’s Time magazine article – ‘You Can Sense That You’re Walking Above the Dead’: A Volcano’s Wrath in Guatemala“
Antigua, (if you do a little googling) has a very interesting history. It was founded in 1543 and was the 3rd capital of the kingdom of Guatemala, which encompassed most of Central America and the southern part of Mexico back then. The first capital at Iximche had some ‘political’ issues (AKA pissed off indigenous Maya) and was moved to present day San Miguel Escobar. That however, was taken care of by Volcan de Agua (AKA pissed off mother nature), so the capital moved on to Antigua, right under Volcan del Fuego. Not a smart move as it turned out, but the Spanish kept the capital going for 200 more years despite lots of earthquakes and eruptions and constant damage (AKA really pissed off mother nature). I guess nobody got the message, so mother nature went full metal Hollywood disaster movie in 1717 when the volcano blew its stack followed by a really BIG earthquake. The Spanish gave up, but the residents still didn’t want to move so a nudge in 1751 destroyed the partially rebuilt city and another in 1773 flattened what was left. Pretty much everyone left for somewhere less hostile.
Still, the few diehards that stayed rebuilt (and are still rebuilding) the old city and Antigua today remains one of the prettiest cities in Central America even though it’s no longer the capital. There are lots of ruins, but the city has a genuine colonial Spanish feel to it. One can only imagine what it looked like when it was brand spanking new. We will be here for awhile enjoying the warmth, rain and all, the friendly atmosphere, and the picturesque countryside (AKA volcanoes). And we will try not to piss mother nature off too much.
If you haven’t read Malcom Lowry, you should give it a go. Lowry, a British poet and writer, spent much of his time in Vancouver, BC. His novel, Under the Volcano, is considered one of the great works of the 20th century.
“I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours.”
―
