Another day, another day trip. This time, we took the boat over to Lanzarote and continued by bus tour to Timanfaya, a national park.
The park is named after the Timanfaya volcano, the only remaining active vulcano. Some greater eruption in 1730 and 1736 shaped the landscape that looks still pretty Mars like. A Jesuit priest, Father Andrés Lorenzo Curbelo, described the events of these days painstakingly. His reports were read in excerpts to us as part of the bus tour, so we could get an idea about the developing calamity even 300 years later. Even today, life was not able to fully claim back the area.
The volcanic activity still continues today. The surface temperature is between 100 °C to 600 °C in around 15 meters depth. A ranger of the national park demonstrated that vividly by pouring water into a hole in the ground from which it was ejected seconds later as steam fountain. In another demonstration, brush wood was placed into an underground hole. Seconds later it burst into flames.
