Volcano
Pic link
After our Tijuana experience, my dad really wanted to move to Mexico. He came to Los Angeles when he was 5, visited Mexico for the first time when he was 30 when he married my mom, but got to know Mexico through Tijuana and wanted to see more. He packed us up to see Mexico the summer of 1962. He wanted to see the country, and find a place to live. We were there for 3 months.
Here is the story about this time, this year, on page 9.
One of my favorite stories is about a volcano. I was very interested in Etna and Vesuvius in Italy, and in ParicutÃn in Mexico. My dad took me to see that volcano. The story was in 1943 an Indian working his field saw steam coming from under a rock. The volcano grew from that flat field to 9,000 ft. It is the youngest volcano in the Western Hemisphere.
My dad hired a guide, rented horses, and we rode through the lava fields to see the volcano. I assume my mom and brother were in a hotel somewhere. We rode through the lava fields and saw the top of the big church which is all you could see of the town of Uruapan buried underneath the lava rocks. Then we went to the base of the volcano and climbed a narrow path with many switchbacks since the cone of the volcano was very steep.
When we got to the rim we got off the horses, and we were looking down into the steaming caldera of the volcano. The guide asks me, How old are you? He bent down, picked up a lava rock, gave it to me and said, This rock is only one year older than you.
The day was so dramatic, the gift of the rock was so wonderful, and the whole day was such a perspective change.
That rock has stayed with me all my life.