Another short post, this time from Panajachel, where part of the town has been wiped out and the main road bridge leading into town has collapsed. Fortunately though they have electricity and phones... and vehicular traffic with surrounding areas resumed yesterday evening. San Pedro is expected to be without electricity, water or phones for another week, which will be tough -- not least for the thousands of refugees from surrounding villages holed up by the Catholic church -- but Callum and I are just feeling incredibly lucky to be with the family we're with and to have been pretty successful at getting some cash out here today as everyone is now running out of money. Food supplies are low but still sufficient -- some things (e.g. eggs and meat) have just about run out but there should be enough beans and maize for a little while.

Yesterday we were in Santiago Atitlan where hundreds, possibly more than a thousand, are dead, buried under huge mudslides. We could barely see any houses in the affected neighbourhood as most of them were completely submerged or swept away. Bodies are being recovered. Slowly.

We are intending to go help in San Marcos tomorrow. This is the small and astonishingly beautiful village we were in when the storm hit earlier this week. On Tuesday morning at 3am, the villagers came round to our cabins crying "Vamos! Vamos!" and we were evacuated up to the church up the hill (an AoG church, for those of you who know what that is!) and we spent the night there with the rest of the villagers as the wind howled and torrential downpour continued. As day broke, we found new 'rivers' raging through the centre of the village, sweeping away houses and shops and schools. We helped move supplies from various shops up the hill, alongside locals who were moving wardrobes, tables, machines, books... everything they were able to save from the waters. By midday, the centre was a no-go zone -- the force of the water was such that anyone wading in would have been swept right down the hill and into the lake. The ground in many parts was so saturated with water that it seemed we were walking on a spring mattress.

We were fortunate enough to have been evacuated early up to the church on the hill, which appears to be in a secure position. We were also fortunate enough (and fortunately rich enough) to be able to check into a small hotel that evening, and incredibly fortunate to have caught a launch the next day to San Pedro. We now know that the main school and the main Catholic church in the centre of San Marcos have been severely damaged. The villages of Tzununa and Jaibalito have fared even worse, apparently, with most people from those places either 'missing' or seeking refuge in San Pedro.

We have been INCREDIBLY FORTUNATE. Although it's interesting how we're now worrying about how much longer the electricity in San Pedro will be out, from worrying about having enough money (yesterday)... worrying about whether there would be enough food and water for everyone (two days ago)... and wondering if we were about to be crushed in a mudslide (three days ago). Amazing how quickly we adapt to all the great things we have and start demanding more!!

Right... that's all for now. No idea when I'll be able to post again but please don't take radio silence for anything bad as San Pedro will just be a little bit cut-off from the rest of civilisation for another week or so.

You can see another view on the disaster at http://www.atitlan.com/ and of course you can get information from any decent news website / channel / feed.

PS - On a slightly more amusing note, I think the people of Santiago found it quite funny that a random Chinese man wearing a traditional sombrero turned up to help them yesterday but instead of being particularly helpful just kept walking into the mud-banks and sinking in, sometimes up to his hips before being pulled out by the locals! This happened about 4 or 5 times before I finally got the plot and started walking on the rocks! Oh well... at least I provided some light entertainment. Bumped into a local chap in San Pedro later who said something along the lines of "Working in Santiago again tomorrow yes?!" with an enthusiasm that could not have been purely about the work!