I want to move to a higher note on the small town of Cha das Caldeiras and show a bit of their rebuilding efforts. Our local guide said they consider the volcano like a father. I guess their father expressed some displeasure with them, but they are determined to rebuild and make their father proud.

I liked that in some of the rebuilding efforts they were using the lava rock for raw materials.

Other efforts involved cement bricks but we didn't see any wood buildings going up.

We stopped for lunch here at a restaurant that also was a hotel of sorts. They had built individual units that were quite nice.

The roof or top area was nice with shade provided plus lounge chairs and tables. It was very pleasant up there.

Inside the units was like a hotel room. One thing though was that the heat was all natural. We were told that these units were built over a lave tube and the lava tube was still hot. The floor of these units was really very warm. I asked how the people could stand it but our guide said it gets really cold here at night, and over 5,500 feet elevation.

We had lunch here at the main area, which didn't get impacted by the volcano flow. Lunch was excellent with fish, chicken, rice, cachupa, squash, carrots, wine, beer and some lemon coconut pie, flan, and cream for dessert.

I would also point out the art in the lower right. Lava rock is being used for construction purposes but also for artistic purposes.