Really . . . A Tropical Storm . . . Really!

You would think a volcano erupting would be enough.

You know there are only so many natural disasters a girl from Saskatchewan can take.

But just to put some peanuts on top of the cherry, on top of the sundae of a disastrous week; Tropical Storm Agatha decides to touch her ugly face on Guatemalan shores yesterday.

Honestly, I was still a little freaked out by the whole volcano erupting thing that I really didn't think much of the incessant rain all day yesterday.  I figured it might cause some problems with the sewer system because of all of the ash still on the streets but I didn't think it would end up being the national disaster that it is.

Most of the day yesterday was spent in my apartment.  A Spanish lesson in the afternoon ended with the sudden blackout across the city at 6 o'clock.  No power means no Internet, means no connection to the outside world, which leaves 2 Canadians and 1 U.S.-ian in a state of distress.

One quick call to our Guate Knight in Shining Armour (who's power was still on).  And we were on our way to Zone 16 to ride out the power outage.  Unfortunately, upon our arrival at his casa, the power outage had made its way out to Zone 16.  Which left us without power up the side of a mountain during a tropical storm.  Fabulous.

We were not there long before receiving a call from our school caretaker who said "You are going to have to make a decision right now: go home now or stay there because there are mudslides and roads being washed out where you are."

The power was back on and the TV said the worst of it was going to be tomorrow.  So what do we do:  stay on the side of a mountain where there are mudslides or try and drive home where there could be mudslides?  We chose to brave the mountain side, being assured there were 5 other routes to our place besides the one that was already washed out.

The ride home was quite interesting . . . we ended up taking this cobble stone road down the side of the mountain.  I am pretty sure it had a grade of 75%, this would scare me on a regular day let alone in the middle of a tropical storm where trees are falling left and right and the roads have the sides of the mountain on their back.  Katie didn't breath the entire ride home, and Miguel and Kara danced to Reggaton.  It was quite the contrast in moods. 

I don't think I could have been happier to turn onto Reforma and see my home away from home the El Cortijo.  Needless to say I was prepared to be stuck at home all day due to the massive rainfall and winds that were supposed to be on its way.

Waking up this morning to no rain was a bit of a shock.  I figured for sure we would be getting the worst of it today, but Tropical Storm Agatha has been downgraded and we seem to be in the clear.

The government has however said that school will be cancelled for the week.  I do believe that the final say will be coming from the devil herself (our school director) and she likes to take her time making these types of decisions.  Plus she is like 180 years old so she never thinks anything is a big deal because she has seen worse.

Next blog . . . happy!