Oh rainy season... It has been raining a lot since I've returned to Guatemala. Here the rainy season is from around May to around October. Apparently when I was gone they didn't get a lot of rain this season, but since I've been back Hurricane Ernesto is hitting us. Usually it is really clear and beautiful in the mornings then by afternoon it is pouring. Some days it doesn't rain at all and some days it is a monsoon all day. There is no way to tell. I have just gotten used to carrying around my rain jacket everywhere I go. It really hasn't affected anything I have tried to do down here since I've been back. I just put on my rain jacket and my rain boots (which are maybe my favorite thing that I own down here) and walk to town.
On Monday this week we drove up to Camanchaj and noticed some rocks had fallen onto the road from the cliffs above since it had rained a lot the night before. Then when we were driving home the roads were flooded. At certain parts it was like driving through a river. It made me nervous that we were going to slide on the roads going home.
On the way home we passed several cars that were stuck (yes I was that tacky American who rolled down my window and took a picture) and one truck which has slid and flipped over. I really don't like driving during the rainy season especially on the cliff roads that we have to drive on to get down from Camanchaj to Pana.
Yesterday driving up to the clinic we got stopped driving up the cliff close to this waterfall. There were small mudslides from the cliffs above which caused huge rocks to fall onto the road. We had to wait for two tractors to clear the road before we could pass through. It rained hard the night before, but really I would have thought it would take more rain to cause that many rocks to fall down. I have been told that in the past rainy seasons there have been a lot of mudslides that have killed hundreds of people and wiped out whole villages. I am praying that since this has apparently been a softer rainy season so far that won't be a problem this year.
On the drive home on Tuesday the waterfall was so large it was coming out onto the road. The other volunteers have told me that in the past the waterfall has completely covered the road and that they have had to drive through it. Heather says that they just pull over, pray, then drive through. Let's again hope it doesn't get that big again this year.
On a happier note I am about to start 2 weeks of traveling. A guy I met at the VIM training I had to go to last October is coming to Guatemala with 2 other friends and we are going to go to Tikal next week. They are going to come to Pana tomorrow then after spending a few days here we will leave on Sunday to go to Tikal which is the most popular Mayan site in Guatemala. After Tikal we will go to Antigua for a day. Then when the group leaves to fly back to Costa Rica I will return home to Pana for a day then leave with the other volunteers at Salud y Paz to go to Rio Dulce which is located on the biggest lake in Guatemala. It is about a 9 hour drive to and from and we will spend a total of 5 days on the trip. It will take a day to drive there and back, so really we will just have 3 days at the lake to explore. I am really excited about both going to 2 "must see" tourist destinations in Guatemala and also to have these trips to bond with friends. I will have to dip into my savings a bit, but I told myself that if trip opportunities came up while I was here I would always take them. Also work will be pretty slow this Fall, but once the new year starts I have back to back teams for months it seems like. I need to take these opportunities now while I can. I don't want to look back on my time here and think about all the things I missed out on because I didn't want to spend the money. Plus at the lake my hotel room is $14 a night. Gotta love cheap hostel bungalows are here in Guatemala. :) Get excited because once I get back from the trips my blogs should get more exciting with more beautiful pictures.
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