It is 12:30PM, local time, and the rain has stopped for the time being...we even had a little weak sun this morning! So I got out and took photos of the damage from last night:
These first two photos were taken minutes apart. It had been raining all day when we heard what sounded like a truck on the little road between our house and the "hill" next to us. It wasn't a truck, it was the hill coming down.
Minutes later, I snapped this picture 
of the hill sliding down even more, taking out a small tree and bending the fence over. Snow is now on a chain because she could get out so easily.
of the hill sliding down even more, taking out a small tree and bending the fence over. Snow is now on a chain because she could get out so easily.
This was the side of the hill overlooking the small soccer field on the lower level. Besides the hill crumbling, this was covered in water last evening and, even now, has inches deep mud that you sink into when you walk on it.
Unfortunately, all of the work that the Wisconsin youth team put in two summers ago got washed down the river. When they return in a few weeks, they may very well get to do it all over again!
A view in the other direction...all of that mud you see is several inches deep and you sink into it when you walk on it.
From atop the hillside next to us, you can see how the land slid. This was a small road that people used to get to a village on the mountain on the other side of the river.
Looking across the river to the municipal soccer field, you see bare places on the mountainside. These were where landslides occurred last night. Most occurred as dusk arrived, along with a heavy rain, and we could only hear them, not see them. It was scary hearing all of that but not being able to tell where it was coming from.Yes, we had damage...but we are OK. Our house is dry (except for the leaks) and we have food and electricity. The road to Solola and Panajachel is out. And the surrounding villages are calling for help. Many are cut off, mudslides taking out roads, houses and people. Johnny and Esteban (our guard) have gone to help in a village above us where several lost houses. Don't know if there were any deaths or not. Johnny took clothes that were left from teams (see, they came in handy!) to hand out to those who need them. As we find out needs, we will try to help. And, unfortunately, it's not over. The tropical storm continues to pour rain over lower Mexico and Guatemala. The temperature is dropping and the rain will begin again within the next couple of hours. Yes, pray for us, but also pray with us that the Guatemalan churches will look beyond themselves to see the needs around them and be a light in this scary time.
Stay tuned for more news later, as we get it. I hope to have pictures from Johnny from the relief efforts he and Esteban are doing. To see some of the pictures taken and put into the national newspapers, go to the following websites. They are in Spanish, but you can see some of the devestation this seemingly small tropical storm has caused.
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