On June 4th, 2011 in southern Chile, the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle eruption occurred and the volcano has been periodically releasing ash ever since. On a number of occasions, flights coming to and departing from Argentina have been postponed because of an ash cloud (nube de ceniga) hovering over Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. Even Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had ash clouds overhead, disrupting their flight schedules as well. It actually seems as though Chile has been less impacted by the volcanic eruption than its southern hemisphere neighbors, near and far.
This past Saturday (more than four months after the initial eruption), another ash cloud erupted from the Chilean volcano and, sure enough, it made its way to Buenos Aires. On Sunday, its presence was ominous - a thick, grey cover over the city. You could feel its grittiness on your skin and see it on the dust covered cars parked along the street. Many flights were grounded until the cloud cleared just a day later.
When I returned to my apartment Sunday evening, I realized that I had left my balcony and bedroom windows open all day. The last time I did this, an uninvited bird came to see me. This time, a visitor from Chile stopped by. There was volcanic ash over every exposed surface in my apartment! While it's actually quite difficult to see, you can feel it when you swipe your finger across a table, the floor or the screen of my iPad. As much as I'm not enjoying cleaning it all up, it's pretty neat to think this came from a volcano...one located in another country to boot. Two lessons re-learned: we live in a small world AND mother nature is one powerful chica. Oh, and don't leave your windows open when the day's forecast from weather.com says "ash cloud."
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