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Subscribers today:
You know what I mean! 
Okay, let’s review the recent events of the last four days:
1. Fast jolt by an earthquake
2. Pacaya volcano erupted
3. Tropical storm Agatha drowns Guatemala
4. Floods and landslides
5. Massive sinkhole in Guatemala City
6. Guatemala soccer teams loses 5-0 against South Africa (Well, this one might not be a surprise at all)
7. … Are these 2012 signs? 
As the new figures and images keep pouring in it becomes obvious that the tropical storm Agatha has caused more damages in Guatemala than Hurricane Stan in 2005 or Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
By the end of Sunday, May 30, these were the figures 82 dead, 111,964 evacuees, 29,245 in shelters, 13 bridges collapsed, [many] roads blocked by landslides or floods (via webO_o). Climaya calls Guatemala the country most affected but also Honduras and El Salvador were affected by the storm Agatha in Muerte y destrucción causa Agatha en Centroamérica. HablaGuate reported about 15 houses that were destroyed in San Pedro Las Huertas (the village I live in) and all the houses lost in Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez. The list of damages caused by tropical storm Agatha just in Guatemala is an endless river of updates in Twitter and Facebook.
Below I share with you just a few samples so you can get an idea of the current state of Guatemala; not a terra firma country any more but an archipelago of isolated communities.
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Guatemalans urgently need a break!
First we experience a short but strong jolt cause by an earthquake. Right after Pacaya volcano began erupting and spewing black volcanic sand and ash over Guatemala City, which cause the closing of the main international airport of Guatemala. People were still cleaning up the black sand and ash when we got hit by tropical storm Agatha, which behaves pretty much like a hurricane.
We urgently need a break!
Of course the tropical storm Agatha is the worst of all evils because it hit hard the entire country with a heavy downpour which caused floods and land slides in many places, including La Antigua Guatemala. Many people have lost their houses and many more have been evacuated and are now living in temporary shelters. A flood of tweets and Facebooks updates keep inundating the timelines with the hash tags #Pacaya, #AgathaGT, #CenizasGT, #ApagonGT, etc. You can look at all the photos from tropical storm Agatha that people are uploading at http://is.gd/cvbam and http://is.gd/cvbak.
Don’t you agree that we need a break from Nature’s catastrophes?
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I can easily hear a lot of Guatemalans asking just that: Stop Pacaya, Stop!
For those who don’t know, Pacaya is the name of the active volcano south of Guatemala City. Most of the time the volcanic activity of Pacaya is predictable enough that the tourism industry has created tours and added the climb of Volcán de Pacaya as one of the top five things to do in Guatemala. Yesterday, however, Pacaya decided to be naughty and played havoc with Guatemala City, the largest city in Central America. Volcán de Pacaya erupted abruptly, throwing ash and black sand onto Guatemala City and surrounding communities. Here you can see a series of photographs by Eny Roland depicting the damage and chaos created by Pacaya volcano in Guatemala City.
To make matters worse, there was an earthquake and heavy storms began falling yesterday over Guatemala and will continue to fall for the next couple of days. So earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, black sand rains and heavy storms, no wonder Guatemala has become a trending topic in Twitter.
I have shown you the typical Guatemalan breakfast at least three times and each time has been somehow different, how so? Well, what can I say, there are a series of ingredients that can be assorted to make breakfast taste very Guatemalan. The typical Guatemalan breakfast must include, however, black beans, fried plantain slices, fresh cheese, and eggs. Other ingredients that can be present in the desayuno chapín are cream, bread, tortillas, chirmol (tomato sauce), salsa verde (green tomatillo sauce), fresh fruits, panqueques (pancakes), longaniza (white sausage), chorizo (red sausage), salchichas (wiener sausage, like in hot dogs), carne asada (charchoal-grilled beef steak), coffee, mosh (oatmeal) or avena (the correct word in Spanish), hot chocolate, orange juice, et cetera.
What other ingredients have you found in your typical Guatemalan breakfast?
Believe it or not, after 500 years, the Plaza Mayor, also known as Parque Central, still is the most popular venue to meet with friends in La Antigua Guatemala.
While I had my shoes shined, I watched this group of friends laughing and having a good time until I realized that the friendly gathering looked like the Guatemalan version of the sitcom Friends. Only then, I decided to capture a few laughs and smiles and I was so lucky because at the very moment another friend showed up and one of the girls was pointing and shouting something to her as she approached them.
A creative framing on a quiet afternoon with just the right amount and kind of people and we get a post card from the past. Of course I could Photoshop out a couple things to make even more convincing, but I am sure most people will not notice them anyway.
What do you think? Do you feel as if you were looking into the past? Do you like this perspective of all the arches of Palacio de los Capitanes?
Below you can browse additional posts of Palacio de los Capitanes:
I am a new reader and I want to thank you for this wonderful, informative website. I will be studying in La Antigua, Guatemala for three months this fall, and I am learning so much from your posts! —Molly Lansdowne
