In addition to the disastrous effects of the volcanic eruption, a tropical storm swept the country, powered by the hurricane Agatha that touched down on the Pacific side of Guatemala last evening.
Friday's rain carried over into Saturday. It did not stop raining the entire day. And it was not just a drizzle, but a good steady pour. I only ventured out of the house once on Saturday.
We had rebooked my flight from Sunday (since the airport had closed for that day) to Monday, so I went into town to book a shuttle to the city on Sunday so as to be in the City the evening before my flight. I borrowed an umbrella from Angelica, but I was still getting wet, so I dropped by the handily-timed market and bought myself a raincoat. It is quite nice: it is black, goes down to my knees, and has a hood and sleeves. Between that and the umbrella, my body from the upper leg and above stayed essentially dry. My feet and legs, on the other hand, got an extra shower.
I was lucky in that I only went to two travel agencies before booking a shuttle. The first place pointed me to the one I used, Silva Travels, who offered a private (that's right) shuttle since they have no public transportation on Sundays. I was relieved that they were going out, since other agencies had preemptively closed down. I returned home as quickly as possible.
That night, I had dinner with the family, watching the news station. We were experiencing a remarkably mild set of conditions compared to other cities nearby. The images of extreme flooding were impressionable. We heard conflicting information throughout the evening as to the duration of the storms, predictions that seemed to be hardly more than guesses.
The only difficulty that affected me personally was that we had power cuts during the day, some for no more than a half-second, other times for maybe 10 minutes. However, each time, the internet cut and had to reset a process that takes about 7 minutes. If there was another power 'break,' it would have to start over. That got quite frustrating when I was trying to monitor Continental's website or contact my family or Carmen.
This morning, however, when I woke up it was oddly quiet and still. The rain had stopped during the early hours. It was very strange to not hear it falling on the roof and on the courtyard stones.
It turns out that the airport will be closed for a minimum of three more days. The earliest I have heard of for a possible reopening is Wednesday. Naturally, my Monday flight was cancelled, but my Dad was able to book on on Thursday afternoon. With that change in plans, I had to change the date of my shuttle trip into the City, because I did not want to bother Carmen's parents for more than one night and also the City has been damaged much more severely than here. Carmen's parents were without power for a good part of Saturday.
I went into town today around lunch time to talk with the agency about a reschedule. I had called last night as well as this morning, and I had been told that the postponement of the shuttle was no problem, and it was not. I just walked in, they recognized me, changed the date on my ticket and bam, that was that. I went out for lunch and ate a pretty big one since I knew dinner was not going to be served either at Angelica's house (it is Sunday, the food-less day in Guatemala), so after eating I grabbed a container of pasta and a salad to bring home with me. I also stopped by at the La Bodegonia supermarket for some snack food. I do not think my bread will last me until Thursday. Pitty. I will just have to eat it before it goes bad.
Semi-dry street with a volcano visible and blue skies
Damp paint marks flooding height in Antigua
Today's paper: "Tragic rain: 12 dead"
I have made quite good friends with the family cat here. Yesterday, it was left outside the front door during the rain, and while I was in the entertainment room fiddling with the internet modem, I heard its whining. So, I opened the door, of course. It spent the entire evening on my bed/lap. Today, when I left for the city center, it was still sleeping on my bed so I left my door open. Someone closed it while I was gone, but the cat did not seem to mind, it was fast asleep when I got back. It spent the rest of the day today on the bed again. It is a sweet little thing, the only bad trait is that darned kneading. It does that alternating 'pushing' with the front paws and only once I have been petting away for a goodly while, will it settle down and sleep. I guess I have never noticed this because there has never been a cat in the house, but they sleep in the weirdest positions. Quite amusing.
Cat on lap. Makes typing more of an effort
Other than that, I am just waiting on Thursday to arrive. I cannot do anything to accelerate or even really assist my departure, except be in the City and at the airport on time. I just have to hope that the fair weather here today was the same in the City, and that it continues as such so that they can clear off the runways.
Chao.
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