A Rough Week for Guatemala

Christina and I immensely enjoyed our 6 day trip to Guatemala. The weather was good enough (light showers sometimes, nice and sunny other times), the people were great, natural beauty abounded, and we didn't run into any snags. Our week there was great.

The week following, however, was not at all great for Guatemala.

A stunning photographic essay of the calendar week immediately following our departure can be found on The Big Picture. The photos are fantastic, and depict the volcanic eruption and tropical storm that amplified each other's effects on the Guatemalan civilization, especially in Guatemala City, where the infamous sinkhole opened what looked like a hole straight to hell. The text from The Big Picture's blog post is repeated here:

In just the past seven days, residents of Guatemala and parts of neighboring Honduras and El Salvador have had to cope with a volcanic eruption and ash fall, a powerful tropical storm, the resulting floods and landslides, and a frightening sinkhole in Guatemala City that swallowed up a small building and an intersection. Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks on May 27th, blanketing Guatemala City with ash, closing the airport, and killing one television reporter who was near the eruption. Two days later, as Guatemalans worked to clear the ash, Tropical Storm Agatha made landfall bringing heavy rains that washed away bridges, filled some villages with mud, and somehow triggered the giant sinkhole - the exact cause is still being studied.

(Photo credits to Daniel LeClair, Johan Ordonez, Moises Castillo, Doriam Morales, Reuters, AP, and Getty Images)