Mount Merapi Volcano

More than 20 years ago, I spent a weekend in Yogyakarta, the main town closest to the volcano. We had stayed at the Grand Hyatt near that town, and it was simply beautiful. The Indonesian, with the Thai, are some of the loveliest people I have ever met.

It was the first time I saw a volcano up close and personal. Of course, then it was not active, but the sight of the volcano in the rising sun of the morning shrouded in lower wisps of clouds reminded me of cover art for Sci-Fi novels of my youth.

In fact, it is the rich soil that comes from the volcanic eruption that makes the region around the volcano prime agricultural land.

Tonight my thoughts are with these people, because going through the eruption of a volcano is nothing fun, in fact, its one of the scariest things, with earthquakes to live through.

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