This popular guide to climbing Mexico's volcanoes continues as the most complete book available in English. Updated for routes altered or closed due to volcanic activity.

Written in flowing prose & supplemented with compelling photography, this is the story of a new active volcano in the middle of a Mexican cornfield & its effect on a local agrarian people.

The main activities of the economically active population around The Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl volcanoes region lie in the primary sector (65- 90%). Of the people working in this sector, those dependent on agricultural or pastoral activities generally have an income significantly lower than the minimum wage in Mexico. Of the activities in the area, these agricultural, pastoral, and forestry activities probably have the most direct effect on the ecology of the volcanoes and its immediate surroundings. Traditional farmers, producing crops such as beans, pumpkins and cucumbers, generally work on small fields using traditional methods and animal traction. Modern farming, geared towards intensive production develops on larger sites making use of modern machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides. As the area under agriculture continues to increase every year, the attendant opening of large forested areas, soil modification, and ensuing erosion make it almost impossible for forest recovery. Extensive forestry in the region mainly concerns cutting and collecting wood, cutting Pinus-branches for torches or for utensils for open-fire cooking, collection of mushrooms, and hunting. Although these (often clandestine) activities seem to be small-scale, their adverse effects on the forest have been substantial. Weekend visitors from Mexico City heavily dominate recreation, with tourism concentrated near the roads leading to and inside the park. Lacking organization and facilities, most recreational activities have had significant environmental impact on the area In many countries, the decline of nature has occurred because of changes in land use.

The incalculable influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) on biology, botany, geology, and meteorology deservedly earned him the reputation as the world’s most illustrious scientist before Charles Darwin. Humboldt’s breath-taking explorations of Mexico and South America from 1799 to 1804 are akin to Europe’s second “discovery” of the New World – this time, a scientific one. His Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain is a foundational document about Mexico and its cultures and is still widely consulted by anthropologists, geographers, and historians. In Humboldt’s Mexico, Myron Echenberg presents a straightforward guide with historical and cultural context to Humboldt’s travels in Mexico. Humboldt packed a lifetime of scientific studies into one daunting year, and soon after published a four-volume account of his findings. His adventures range widely from inspections of colonial silver mines and hikes to the summits of volcanoes to meticulous examination of secret Spanish colonial archives in Mexico City and scientific discussions of archaeological sites of pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures. Echenberg traces Humboldt’s journey, as described in his publications, his diary, and other writings, across the heartland of Mexico, while also pursuing Humboldt’s life, his science, his experiences, his influence on scholars of his time and after, and the various efforts by others to honour and at times to denigrate his legacy. Part history, part travelogue, and always highly readable and informative, Humboldt’s Mexico is an engaging account of a gifted scientist and visionary that ranges across topics as diverse and broad as natural history was in his era.

This publication summarizes the studies carried out at two of the most active volcanoes of Chiapas (Mexico): El Chichón and Tacaná. El Chichón erupted explosively in 1982 killing more than 2000 people being the worst volcanic disaster in Mexico, and Tacaná produced two mild phreatic explosions in 1950 and 1986. Only after these explosions a surge of new studies began to unreveal their volcanic history and impact. This book presents the state of the art advances in topics related to the geologic setting of the two volcanoes, their eruptive history and composition of erupted products, the hydrothermal systems and their manifestations. Volcanic hazards and risks and possible mitigation plans are discussed based on the experience of the catastrophic eruption of El Chichón that occurred in 1982. The book will also include previously unpublished material on the flora and the fauna of the region and archaeological and social aspects of the area that is inhabited by indigenous people.