Volcanos, tormentas and sinkholes... oh my!

Obviously, this week has been a tough one for Guatemala. I'll start this entry by saying that I made it home safe and sound, and that (thanks goodness) San Vicente suffered little damage.

The weekend started off for me on Friday morning as I was meeting my friend Ben who was flying down from NY, in Panajachel that afternoon. In Xela on my way to Pana, I get a phone call from Ferney saying that the volcano Pacaya has exploded and that Guatemala city is covered in ash and the airport is closed. The lake however was not effected, so I continue on my way.

I met up with Ana and Dana (Ana is another Peace Corps volunteer and Dana works for an NGO called Mana International) in Pana. As the afternoon wears on, so does the rain, it simply continues, but there wasn't much wind so we didn't think much of it.

Around 4 PM, after we met up with Ben and his friend Leif and we are on a launcha (boat) over to the hotel we're staying at on the other side of the lake, we find out that Peace Corps has been put on "standfast" for security purposes due to the impending tropical storm. Standfast basically means that we can't go anywhere, where ever we are when standfast is called, we have to stay there until we are told otherwise.

We spend a fun but rather uneventful night at Casa del Mundo on the lake, and head back to Pana in the AM, as there are more supplies there in case the standfast lasts for a long time. It is also the location of a consolidation point (the next step after standfast).

The boat ride from Casa del Mundo to Pana is quite short, it's only about 1/2 an hour, however, that was long enough! The boat was full as there were fewer running that morning, and it was POURING with rain. I was sitting outside of the plastic "windscreen" and got drenched! Most of my clothes are still wet. It was gross.

Anyway, we safely make it back to Pana, and put Ben and Leif on a private microbus to Antigua so they can be there if the airport re-opened (nope, but they made it up to Flores so that's good!). The storm was the first tropical storm of the season, and is called Agatha. In Central America, 83 deaths have been reported so far.

Ana, Dana and I spent the rest of the standfast holding tight at a hostel in Pana, waiting for the roads to clear. They cleared up this morning (Tuesday) and we all made it safely back to site (phew!).