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Volcano Hunting
at Etna.
Author / Photographer:
Shamus Sillar
Posted: April 1, 2003
This used
to be the main road on the south slope of Etna. Now it's the main
dead end on the south slope of Etna, thanks to this lava which flowed
down the mountain in December.
Although
the lava has finally stopped moving across the road and now has
a solid crust, it's still hot as blazes. I scrambled up to the top
to
perform a series of pyromaniacal experiments and managed to incinerate
most of the unwanted items in my backpack (plus, unfortunately,
some of the wanted ones, such as my bus ticket back to Catania).
This place
- a shop selling tacky souvenirs (such as "Etna Fire,"
a heinous booze made out of ethanol and red food colouring) - can
consider itself lucky. Getting covered by a dump of snow is one
thing: getting
covered in molten rock is another. Over on the north side of Etna,
hundreds
of buildings were wiped out in the recent eruption.
Not sure
what mountain this guy was trying to paint, but it sure wasn't
the one I was walking on. Forget those UFOs - here's your alien.
Speaking
of space, this is Etna taken from a satellite when she was
still erupting in December. Catania is up in the top left corner,
somewhere
under that cloud of ash.
And now back to my pint
glass of Etna Fire. And the World Cup final.
Author: Shamus Sillar
Contact: s_sillar@hotmail.com
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