Living Near the Most Beautiful Volcano Ever

 Today I want to share to all of you a glimpse of life and also a piece of history here. I’m proud to introduce to STEEMIT, A VOLCANO! 

 

I come from a region in the southern part of the Luzon island in the Philippines, which is also home of the world-renowned Mayon Volcano. It’s known for its remarkable symmetry and shape. On pleasantly warm sunny days when it isn’t blanketed by thick puffy clouds, you can see the creases formed by the rivers that run down the green slopes. I myself live beside a river that flows from it. Foreign travellers often worry that living close to such a violent force of nature is not a good idea. Well, they’re not wrong. Mount Mayon has historically claimed thousands of lives throughout the centuries. 

The Franciscan Church

 It took the majority of its victims by burying nearby villages with lava and lahar. In 1814, an eruption engulfed a Franciscan church and killed almost 2000 people seeking shelter inside. Subsequent eruptions in 2000 and 2006 forced tens of thousands of people in nearby villages to evacuate.  As recently as 2013, five climbers were killed by room-sized rocks spewed from the crater. Fortunately we live at a safe distance from the danger zone that we don’t have to worry about occasional lava flows. So besides acknowledging the volcano’s ever-present danger, we can also admire it for being nature’s perfect cone! 

Because of the region’s flat topography, the Mayon dominates the plain landscape. We locals live our everyday lives being under gaze of the volcano. We work, study, and go about our business all while the volcano sits majestically in the distance. To wake up every morning and seeing a big blue cone in the horizon getting showered with golden sunlight is a treasured privilege I enjoy from being here. At dusk, the sky turns to a calm orange that greatly compliments the volcano’s bluishness. The Mayon is such an integral part of our culture and tradition that we have it on our one-hundred-peso banknotes!

 Bonus Picture: The volcano has also seen World War II. If anyone knows, can you tell me what these planes are and what country they're from? Thanks!