I woke up this morning to the odd sound of silence...after almost 2 days of heavy rain, and 30 hours of straight pouring rain, it seems as if the Tropical Storm Agatha has finally passed over.
It got a little worried when I woke up Saturday morning to get ready for a weekend trip with my language school to Santiago Atitlan, and it was still raining. Granted, it is rainy season, but normally it´s afternoon rain...not nonstop. So I got up early, ate breakfast, and told my host family that I didnt think it was a good idea to go and they agreed. By this time the radio reports were getting more troubling, and the rain was only getting more intense. Landslides on the highways were preventing travel, and there was some flooding taking place throughout the department/state. All day the family and I were huddled around the TV trying to keep track on new developments. People were beginning to be evacuated out of their homes, and in some places 5 minutes away, people had over a meter of water inside shops and houses, and needed small boats to get out.
Luckily, my family lives on a residential hillside, near a hill called Baul, and we were pretty safe. There were a few leaks here and there, but nothing in comparison to what could have been the problems had I stayed with my old host family, which was right next to the school and in a bit of a dip where I´m sure tons of water has collected, or did collect last night.
While the reports said that Agatha was going to be here until Tuesday, I woke up to sun and birds! Other places are still experiencing rain and problems with water and electricity, but it seems to have passed over Xela for now!
So I´m feeling quite grateful right now, and happy that I had such an awesome family to spend the few hours of slight worry and panic with.
One more week in Xela and then I´ll be heading up to the mountain school. Hopefully everything will dry up in the next little while!!
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this is my 3rd favorite Guatemalan blog! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWe are also grateful and relieved that all is well with you my dear Granddaughter. Thank you so much for letting us know that you were/are well--it is much appreciated. The Creator is looking out for you I feel. By the way, it was wonderful to hear your voice when you called. Look at this as a good experience that a great deal of the world lives with all the time--natural as well as human made calamity, disaster, terror, fear, etc. Take care of yourself and please pass on my gratitude to the family your are staying with for taking good care of you. I love you and miss you.
ReplyDeleteBaba