Banana farmer Jose Alvaro Leon Diaz rests with his dogs at the end of a day spent trying to salvage his crop from the ashfall.
“When we try to sell them it looks like the bananas have been sanded down. Inside it’s the same, it’s tasty. But on the outside, to the eye, it doesn't sell.”
Less reliant on tourists than nearby Tenerife and Gran Canaria, La Palma's economy is driven by bananas, avocados and several varieties of Listan grapes. In a normal year, banana farmer Alvaro could expect to harvest more than 13 tonnes of the island’s bananas. But the usual buyers are rejecting crops due to minor aesthetic changes caused by the ash.
Work to clear the island’s narrow mountain roads starts just before sunrise. The ash significantly reduces traction on the roads, making driving dangerous in an already challenging environment.
Retirees in the mountain town of El Paso sit outside the district’s coronavirus vaccination centre waiting for the authorities to clear the day’s ashfall.
A man wearing a full body suit with facemask and goggles heads home with his shopping from the nearby supermarket
Molten lava piles up against houses on the outskirts of La Laguna.
Cumbre Vieja’s cone emits thousands of tonnes of ash, smoke and rock into the air. The surrounding areas are left at the mercy of the changing wind and a change in direction can force new evacuations and road closures.
“The behaviour of toxic gas is very erratic. People see pictures of scientists or ourselves near the cone and think a face mask will protect them, but a mass of dangerous gas can be concentrated and quickly make them pass out.”
Evacuee Micheala watches the molten lava flowing from Cumbre Vieja.
”I don’t know what else to do. I came here to watch and hope my home is spared so I can go back.”
Spain’s Minister for Science and Innovation, Diana Morant [second from right], meets ground teams near El Paso. Morant says more than 100 scientists across several geological disciplines are working round the clock to process data gathered from the volcano
Shopkeeper Manuel Pino stands next to his electronics store after clearing the overnight ash.
”It’s relentless. Every day we’re cleaning ash. It's everywhere, and we can’t let our products get dirty. It stops people wanting to go outside and come to our shops.”
At night, Cumbre Vieja transforms from a smoky mountain into a glowing mass of erupting molten lava