Yesterday we moved into the house we have rented for the month we will be based in Antigua. It is beautiful here. Antigua was the Spanish colonial capital of Central America, founded in the 1500's by Alvarado. It was abandoned in the late 18th century after a series of devastating earthquakes. It has beautiful Spanish architecture and rests in a tropical highland valley surrounded by three volcanoes. The closest volcano, named Agua, dominates the skyline at the south end of the city. The twin sister volcanoes, Fuego and Acatenango, preside over the western end of town. After taking photos of the house and car to post on the blog this morning we noticed that one of the three, aptly named Fuego, had begun erupting. Fuego has been erupting on and off for years, spewing a mix of ash and lava.

In the top left side photo you can see Fuego near the left side of the frame, behind a tree. This is the picture we took before today's eruption began. In the second photo you can certainly see Fuego has begun to erupt. Fuego lies 20 kilometers from Antigua, so that is a pretty impressive column of ash. The last picture is of the boys in front of our temporary home - from which we have the privilege of watching the the mornings fireworks.