In late September we decided to take our first inland trip toward the middle of the Cordillera Central to climb Nevado del Ruiz. This volcano is the northernmost volcano of the Andean Volcanic Belt and lies about 170 miles north of Cali and 80 miles (129 km) west of Bogota. It is the northernmost and highest active volcano in Colombia and it made world news in 1985 when it erupted after being dormant for 150 years. The eruption produced a lahar or type of mudflow/landslide composed of pyroclastic material and water that flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. This Lahar completely buried the town of Armero and caused an estimated 23,000 deaths in what came to be known as the Armero Tragedy. This is the deadliest lahar flow in world history!

Maria remembers this date clearly when while driving to Nazareth College in Rochester to teach a Statistics class the radio interrupted its original program to announce the eruption. It is a rare event for the media in the United States to interrupt its programming to announce news from foreign countries. What happened to the town was horrid and grabbed the country and the world's attention through many stories, mainly one about a 10-year-old girl which was half buried in mud. Unfortunately she was unable to be pulled out because the mud hardened around her body like cement and even though rescue workers tried to unearth her it was impossible without ripping her body in two. So she died a slow and horrendous death.

To reach the Nevado del Ruiz, we took a bus tour that took us on a nearly 3-hour trip up the mountain from Maniz�les, where we had slept the night before. The trip was long but fascinating as we drove from the luscious vegetation of Maniz�les to a desert leading up to the base of the Nevado. Also, the bus made several stops particularly as we started climbing the Cordillera Central since we were going from Maniz�les' altitude of about 2,000 meters to the top of the Nevado at well over 5,000 meters. The trip was fantastic except that as we were climbing the last 100 meters by foot Daniel became ill from the height & lack of oxygen. As we all considered turning back Kim talked Maria into continuing and to our amazement she reached the area near the top where they allow people to climb to - it was at an altitude of 5,125 meters or 16,853 feet! She had never being this high.

This awesome trip is well worthwhile for anyone visiting Colombia. We drove to Maniz�les the day before the trip, stopping in Pereira. Both of these cities, along with Armenia are the largest city one encounters driving north from Cali to the Nevado. Rather than describing in words this fabulous trip you can view the many pictures we took as we proceeded up the mountain in the the "Photo Gallery" icon in the blog, album "Nevado del Ruiz, Pereira & Manizales". You can also read about El Nevado del Ruiz in detail at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevado_del_Ruiz