Another beautiful day here by the lake. Early morning sunlight is highlighting the western valley with just the tops of the two volcanoes peaking above the narrow band of gray clouds. Some villagers are gathering the abundant wood floating near the shore left behind by the storm.

There is a large amount of damage done by the river as it undercut its banks at the peak of the storm. The river still runs furious with churning mud as large pieces of trees and other debris seem to race toward the lake. All three bridges are either gone or unusable. The main bridge that we crossed several times in our van and tuk-tuk has a thirty foot section missing with a truck laying on its side at the bottom of the twenty five foot gulch. Rumor has it that the drunken driver ignored the makeshift barricade and unwittingly drove into the chasm. The rather large concrete building that used to be the grocery store by that bridge has also slid down the newly muddy slope and seems to be waiting its turn to join the other debris being claimed by the storm. Many riverside structures were either destroyed or severely damaged as the river undercut the mud bank. Even a car had one wheel dangling in the air as the rest of the car seemed to be leaning toward the edge of the cliff.

No way to reach the office of Mayan Families or the Mayan Foundation. We are meeting with a micro-finance firm today as well as another Fair Trade group.

Mark