Rising From The Lava
Under the black jagged valley of Western Mexico, was once an indigenous village that called this place their local church. Seemingly rising from the ashes itself, the church of San Juan Parangaricutiro is the only part of the village that was not swallowed by a near decade-long volcanic eruption.
Like something out of an Indiana Jones films set, sitting two stories deep in hardened lava, this is one church that refused to be toppled by nature’s wrath. A year after the volcano first erupted in 1943, the lava eventually began to engulf the church's cemetery walls, burying graves even deeper and swallowing all but the church facade, tower and altar. Natives recall hearing the church bells ringing as the ground shook and the volcano devoured the village.
