Photos

The Mayon Volcano is among the natural wonders that the Philippines carved the most-kept history. A landmark of the Bicol region, this lethally beautiful stratovolcano has always been active and ready to explode anytime nature desires. It erupted 49 times for the past 400 years. Lethal because it claimed thousands of lives... but yet beautiful because it symbolizes survival and pride to the entire Filipino race. For it is nature's fury, humans as we are should not condemn but live with it... in it's mystery, magnificence and commandment.

Mayon shows a perfect cone through pyroplastic and lava flows from the past eruptions. One of the most devastating activities of the volcano was in 1636. It bombarded and buried the entire town of Cagsawa. The bell tower of the church only remains above the new surface now known as the Cagsawa Ruins... memento of a painful past.

The recent devastation that claimed a thousand lives was on November 30, 2006. Typhoon Durian brought one of the heaviest rains in the history caused mudslides of volcanic ash and boulders from the slope of Mayon Volcano giving the river too much tension, ruthlessly cracked banks... destroyed trees and animals, washed out houses and claimed innocent lives.

Many dead bodies never found... families until now trying to search for their loved ones in the vast valley of destruction. It is a pain that they'll have to live for the rest of their lives. But again... no condemnation... but instead be thankful because despite of its wrath, it still allows survival... a new spring of life that will continue to live with it... and tell the tale to the coming generation.