Latest derrumbe

Sorry for the delay since the last posting...hope to get caught up on postings on the teams next week, after the last team leaves. As you know, we had to take a few (very few) days in Alabama to renew Johnny's driver's license. While we were there, we were notified of a landslide between Solola and Panajachel. It wasn't until we brought the first Visalia team down to Pana that we saw the damage.

Coming up the mountain from Pana to Solola, you can see where the landslide took out a nice-sized portion of trees and foliage next to the waterfall.

A good view of what the road looked like when we first saw it. Big boulders had come down and took out the outside lane of the two lane road. Dirt and boulders also covered the road and isolated Panajachel for a couple of days.

This view is from the Solola side and was taken two days ago. You can see that they are already working on the area that was undercut (the land that was gone from under the road). The small yellow sign in the distance is the sign for the waterfall, to give you perspective. This area is now down to one lane, which is full of potholes from the boulders hitting the road. Rumor is that there were some injuries to people in a car that was passing thru this area and another small slide pushed them off the mountain several days after the road opened back up. Last week, we just had to pass this way going into Pana and returning to the capital because we worked across the lake and took boats each day. This week, however, we are working at the Camp and pass this way daily, up and down. Pray for safety as we (and others) cross this area routinely.