Resize Text: Hith a deafening roar, the Ecuadorian volcano Tungurahua—or Throat of Fire—awoke from a respite of more than 80 years in 1999. One of the liveliest of the myriad volcanic peaks of the Pacific Ring of Fire, this central Ecuadorian cone lies not just above an area of subterranean activity, but also on the cusp of climatic transition between the Amazon and the Andes, the longest chain of mountains on Earth.
Tungurahua rises above a region known as the “gateway to the Amazon” on the eastern edge of the Cordillera Central range of the Ecuadorian Andes. On the mountain’s lower slopes, the air often feels thick with humidity and is covered with a lush, green forest.
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