Here comes the story of the Hurricane

We students went to Lago de Atitlán this weekend hoping for a nice time by the beautiful lake. Unknown to us, we were headed straight into the center of a hurricane/tropical storm. Sure, there were rivers in the streets and it had been raining non stop for two days but our tour guide (Miguel Perro, a teacher from the school) seemed relatively confidant the trip would go on as planned. As we departed Xela the street lamp exploding next to the minibus into the wet street seemed to me an accurate sign of what our future would hold, that is, disaster.


The drive to Panajachel left me worried, irritated and car sick. The rain pressed on, seeming never to lose force while we dodged newly formed water falls and landslides on the curvy highway. There were fifteen of us in total (mostly undergrad students from the University of Dayton) and we were packed in as tightly as possible (sin seat belt por supuesto!). After the two hour drive, nothing in the town was open and the street in front of the hotel had begun to flood. We hurried into the hotel to put our things down and to see if “any boat would take us on the water”. I was thinking no, who would go out in the water, in Guatemala on a day like this (still not knowing the magnitude of the storm), but was surprised to find that one boat had agreed to take us to Santa Catarina, San Antonio and Santiago despite the weather. Apparently the only other boats out were for evacuation purposes and even with this theory, I saw no other boats on the choppy, rainy water. It was this boat ride where I determined our group leader, Perro (yes his nickname is dog), really had little to no understanding of safety.


Lago de Atitlán is one of the larger attractions in the highland areas of Guatemala, and seeing it from the perspective of a boat is supposed to be amazing. The only thing I  could see on this boat ride were the gray rainy skies and eventually, just my knees as I crouched down trying to keep from vomiting. Our first destination was Santa Catarina where students were encouraged to swim in the hot spring. Most of us declined, however, two brave/naive young ladies gave it a go (who would have though we would all be just as soaked later on that day). When we arrived at out second destination (San Antonio) we were taken up a very muddy and wet hill to a weaving shop. The owners opened just for us and we got to take a break from the rain while admiring their handwork. The next stop was a tourist restaurant in Santiago where I had a decent however overpriced chicken noodle soup. At this point, we all decided against taking a tuk-tuk to see San Simón (a wooden figure where offerings of cigarettes and alcohol are made) which probably would have been cool had it not been storming. Instead we headed to the first church in the area (founded in 1540, muy viejo). That alone was reason enough to visit, but more recently during the Guatemalan Civil War the church was used as a refuge during a massacre in Santiago. It was quite moving to read the description and interesting to see the statues and woodcarvings dressed in colorful tunics.


This was our last stop, (my pants were 100% soaked at this point and the wetness was creeping) and we headed back toward Panajachel. The boat started to run out of gas maybe ten minutes into our hour and a half return trip. We watched as the driver siphoned gas into another container (I think the original one had a leak because the whole boat smelled like gas) while simultaneously bailing out the puddle of  water forming in the boat from the downpour. It was difficult to help in this situation because the boat was rather small and I wasn't really prepared for the elements the driver was braving. The boat ran much slower after that, but we made it back to Panajachel which was all that really mattered.


On our walk back to the hotel the street that had been a little flooded before had turned into rushing river of at least a foot deep of water. We made it back to the hotel fairly well soaked and ready to find out if this was just “normal rainy season” activity or what. Turns out a hurricane/tropical storm by the name of Agatha was making its way through Guatemala and one of the worst hit places was the area surrounding Lago de Atitlán. As our clothes were drying, we were considering the real possibility of being stranded in Panajachel for a few days. Thankfully, by the next morning the sun was shining and we were set to brave the roads to Chichicastenango and eventually head back to Xela.


The drive was somewhat treacherous as the minibus bobbed and weaved around pile after pile of rocks from previous landslides, but we made it to Chichicastenango. Chicken buses were not running, so though usually Chichi is a big marketplace, it was somewhat limited due to the very understandable vendors transportation issues. We spent a couple hours scavenging the marketplace (I bought a much needed belt!) and returned to Xela relatively problem free. Along the ride we saw many houses devastated by the effects of the storm and much of the road was closed off due to landslides.


Getting back to Xela and back to my apartment was a great feeling. Though I was only gone for two days, the hurricane/tropical storm made the whole experience feel much longer. The only “injury” I had from the trip was a sunburn on my shoulders. I am glad to be safe, and I hope the many people who were injured and have lost homes are able to repair and come out of this okay. As it is now, I have survived intestinal issues, a volcanic eruption and hurricane/tropical storm. I can safely say this is not at all what I expected but I am still glad to be here.