Mayon Volcano in the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. Its almost perfectly-shaped cone is considered by many people to be more beautiful than Mount Fuji in Japan. A few kilometres to the south of the volcano is Legazpi City.
Mayon is classified by volcanologists as a stratovolcano (composite volcano). Its symmetric cone was formed through alternate pyroclastic and lava flows. Mayon is the most active volcano in the country, having erupted around 50 times for the past 400 years.
The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa and 1,200 people perished. Only the belltower of the town church remained. It is located between the Eurasian and the Philippine Plate and is a destructive plate boundary. Where a continental plate meets an oceanic plate it forces the denser oceanic plate down, pushing magma up.
Legend attempts to unravel the mystery of the origin of this magnificent chunk of earth. It seems that there once lived a very beautiful native princess who had an uncle named Magayon. He was so possessive of his niece that no man dared to challenge his wrath by courting the favors of the young maiden. One day, however, a brave and virile warrior was so smitten by the princess that he threw all cares to the wind, clambered up through the window of the royal chamber and enticed the girl to elope with him.
With Magayon at their heels, the couple prayed to the gods for assistance. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a landslide buried the raging uncle alive. Local folks now claim that it is Magayon’s anger bursting forth in the form of eruptions.