Over the last few days, I had heard first hand account from people residing in Bariloche about the volcano eruption that happened 4 months ago.
It was strikingly bizarre when the city fell into complete darkness within seconds on a brightly lit afternoon.
Everyone could not explain the sudden darkness and didn’t know what had happened until much later when they discovered that the volcano in Chile had erupted.
The city was completely shut down for days and power was also out in some places. People could walk out for a few moments and be covered entirely with ash when they walked back in. The streets were also covered with ashes about 20cm deep.
The most unfortunate thing is that it happened just as the ski season was about to start, and as Bariloche is a touristic town that survived on tourists during the high winter and summer months, the ski season for the year was destroyed.
4 months later, ashes are still on the ground as well as in the air No one can be certain when the air will be cleared, and what the damage may be for breathing the ashes in on a daily basis.
So as I took a walk out to the city today, I noted that the sky was foggy with ashes. Though I can’t really see pieces of ash nor smell any strange smell that I could relate to ash, I was wary about how much I may be breathing in a single day.
A thin layer of ash (seems like dust) covered my sunglasses when I took it off mid way while walking towards the city, located about 25 blocks from where I was staying.
The city is located next to the lake, and as I walked along the road next to the lake, some sections looked like beaches with the sandy like ashes on the ground!
As it was a Sunday, the city was quiet as most shops were closed, with the exception of a few major chocolate stores.
Bariloche is known to be the chocolate capital of Argentina.
And of course I couldn’t resist buying chocolates especially when I had been having chocolate cravings for some time and had been avoiding buying chocolates in other parts of Argentina, as they seem to be exorbitantly charged.
Not to sure about dying from breathing in too much ash, but MMMMMHH….. the chocolates are to die for!!!
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