santiago atitlan post hurricane stan?

I was there about a week ago. I had only been there once before stan, but it seems more or less ok. Given it's the rainy season I think tourism is down a bit, but things seem to be fine. I sat and ate chocobananos and watched a futbol game in the park, then had some rum with Maximon, who by the way is doing just fine and more drunk then ever. However, I only spent the day and have no idea what is happening behind the town and up the volcano. The past few times that I've been the Guatemala, I've heard report or 2 of murders and crime in Santiago, But I'm sure they're isolated incidents.

I was there just 9 months after Stan, but have not been there before the hurricane, so I can't compare. I was concerned, because of what I had read before going. It seemed to me that the situation, within limits, got back to normality, even if people were still traumatized and horrified with what happened, especially after the destruction of the entire village of Panabaj. It's hard to say, because, even though I visited most of the villages around the Lake, I really never left the main path. I noticed the a few churches were being used as schools and shelters, but did not notice huge destruction around me. I asked some locals and they were very eager to show me the land slides on the hills around the lake, some of which were really impressive. I guess that if you stay in the areas that are most visited, you will be totally fine (after 2 1/2 years). When I went I found a good amount of tourists and it did not seem to me that the tourist infrastructure was impacted.

I am sorry my report is probably not as recent as you probably would like.

I was there twice within the past 6 months. Santiago Atitlán itself was pretty much the same. As far as I know, their Maximón is fine (though I believe the town has more than one.) There was a recent battle between two different Mayan groups in another Atitlán town over their own Maximon. I don't know how that turned out later or if it is still in a standoff.

Tourism has increased in Guatemala since the war ended and it wasn't any different when I was there.

Infrastructure in Guatemala in general is in bad shape. I haven't heard of specific problems in Santiago Atitlán itself. In remote areas affected by Hurricane Stan, not much has been repaired and even some temporary bridges have collapsed. They are having another rainy season right now with heavy rain. Then there was the strong earthquake this week. While it luckily didn't cause a lot of damage or loss of life, it assuredly undermined the stability of more than a few steep hillsides. That and the continued rains will lead to more landslides, mudflows, road and bridge collapses in the highlands. This affects the local Mayans the most because they live in the most vulnerable areas. It affects tourists only if they are traveling on on highway where there as been a landslide - it may mean a long wait or a detour.

An example of infrastructure problems - the huge sinkhole in Barrio San Antonio, Zone 6, Guatemala City. While the capital city argues with the municipality about who is responsible to repair it, recent rains and the earthquake have caused it to collapse a little more around the edges.

Many Guatemalans are worried about the very high crime and murder rates, gang activity, the corrupt and collapsed law enforcement and judicial systems, and the failure of the peace process. It is election season, and the people registered to vote last week. This always means an increase in polical murders, and that has been happening. There is disbelief the government could let things get this bad.

A very intense problem has been developing for several years - the criminal gangs have been extorting "protection money" from bus drivers. It has peaked to the breaking point. One report said that they were attacking almost 250 buses a day. There have been many killings of bus drivers for resisting, and often passengers are robbed or killed too. It has gotten so bad the bus drivers have been striking for the past two or three weeks. These are the urban and extraurban chicken buses they've been hitting. Recently the president said he believes there is a political motive behind these attacks. One good solution has been proposed, but it would be up to the bus drivers to figure it out - having a prepay system.

In the villages around the lake, there has been an increase in crime also, but most is not against tourists. The gangs are also in the villages, and there are other problems too sinister to tell you about here.

In Panabaj, just a little bit farther down the road past Santiago Atitlán, the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation worked for months to exhume 106 victims (smothered by 9 feet of mud from the volcanic mudflow) for identification and reburial. Despite recent death threats related to their work in exhuming massacre victims from the war, they want to respond to families in Panabaj who now wish to have those victims exhumed from unmarked graves ("XX") who were buried in the cemetery right away after the mudslide. There are at least 20 more people to find.

Even though there was some initial opposition to the exhumations in Panabaj, many people were helped psychologically by this work. Present during the exhumations were groups of local mental health providers, and the restoring of dignity to the victims is very important to the Maya.

However, a good number of people still live in shelters built following the mudslide, still in the path of future slides. They are aware that the government did very little to help them, and that it took people in the non-profit sector to help them.

Generally, people are sick of the violence in Guatemala, but it is also a part of the post-war period and the war's effects on subsequent generations in a society that has not recovered. Psychologically, they need a government that works, a better sharing of resources, and an end to the extreme violence - then they could overcome the war trauma better. That said, the Maya are so used to suffering and short life spans, they try to find joy in each day anyway. And they succeed.

Here we go...it is an election year and we will all have to suffer the "sky is falling" and "blood will run in the streets" posts....just as I predicted.

Here we go...it is an election year and we will all have to suffer the "sky is falling" and "blood will run in the streets" posts....just as I predicted.

BTW, in talking last week with some locals who are working on the project to restore the church/hospital and the village lost in the Stan slide above Santiago Atitlan, they say work is going well and much has been done to help the local women especially, get materials for weaving production etc..THey are still raising money and have a website but which I checked out online months ago but I no longer have the address....