AMERICAN EMBASSY




                                             



If you've been reading Tiller Tales excerpts on this site you know that I spent over three years on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala.  Many boaters ride out hurricane season some twenty miles upstream from the seaside village of Livingston.  My website designer has some spectacular photos of Livingston and elsewhere in Guatemala on her site. www.saltysailors.com I looked at them just this morning and it took me back.  I've stayed in the same places and hiked that same swampy trail she describes.  Take a look and reminisce or experience this different world for the first time.

The American Embassy runs meetings at the Catamaran Hotel on the sweet river periodically to inform American citizens of events and dangers in the country, dulce means sweet in Spanish and Rio means river, but you already knew that.  Some of this is discussed in the Guatemalan chapters of Tiller Tales, particularly Muerte en el Rio Dulce, Revelations of X and Rio Dulce Dichotomy.  While seeming idyllic this is a fermenting land seething with danger just beneath the surface, which often erupts when least expected.  Part of the problem, as I saw it, is the lack of any law enforcement presence on the river itself.  There are police in the village and in those places accessible by road but none in the huge area surrounding this magnificent waterway accessible only by boat.  Some would deny this but the only protection there is vigilantism.  I remember gunfire in the night and the occasional corpse surfacing before sightseeing tourists plying the river in commercial lanchas.  Although the occasional floating body is probably not mentioned in their brochures.

The American Embassy report on hurricanes on the Hurricane Page of this site discusses what might happen in the event of one of these catastrophic storms.  Paragraphs 3 and 4 speak of massive infrastructure failure, widespread looting and dangerous conditions for tourists lasting several days and the very real possibility of a lack of police protection.  This brings to mind one of my previous entries in the hurricane category relating to a stone age lurking in the wings, just waiting the chance to pounce.  In the United States that primitive era is thwarted somewhat by police and occasionally the National Guard, the Katrina disaster in New Orleans an example. That stone age is a little further back in the closet here but right up front in third world countries.  

However it could happen anywhere so the lesson here is self awareness and preparation.  Think about what could be and gather those things that could protect your family when all fails.  Provisions, perhaps weapons and maybe even Hurricane Finder. 

Hey my business plan mandates I mention the thing as often as possible.  It's paying for all this so please have patience.

Thanks,

JB

Posted by JB at 6/9/2007 2:20 PM
Categories: Hurricanes
 

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