Things don't happen very quickly in Mexico. The punctual opening of the 50th anniversary plaza is only one example. Geological processes are hardly renowned for their rapid pace either. Your fingernails grow faster that the rate that the continents glide across the globe. Thus my initial excitement has not been transformed into a flurry of postings. There have been no more flights, no meetings of the Comité Cientifico and no sightings of hot red lava. Yet.
Meanwhile, we have been spending a fair bit of time on the hill, which continues to puff away. We installed a Doppler-radar system to measure the ascent rates of the explosion clouds. This required lugging a satellite dish, 5 car batteries, 5 solar panels, 100 litres of water, 40 kg of cement and various instruments up to the site, where the cement dust and the sun took their toll on my eyes.
At least the descent, down a lahar-smoothed lava flow was fun, though.
