(Reuters) - The volcanic eruption on La Palma that has sent spectacular rivers of molten lava running down the slopes of La Cumbre for nearly three months is the longest running on the Spanish island since records began in 1500, experts said on Sunday.

       It began on Sept. 19 and Stavros Meletlidis, of the Spanish National Geographic Institute, said that was longer than any eruption on La Palma since records started over 500 years ago.

       Residents just wish it would stop so they could return to normal life.

       "People are fed up. As a local Palmero I took a break and went to Madrid to get some air," Juan Ernesto Pérez,57, of Los Llanos de Aridane told Reuters.

       The red-hot lava that lights up the night sky has been disruptive. According to the Copernicus disaster monitoring programme, lava flows have damaged or destroyed at least 2,650 buildings, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes on the island, part of the Canaries archipelego.

       (Reporting by Graham Keeley, Marco Trujillo and Catherine Macdonald; Editing by Frances Kerry)