The same Mayan mud that the Blairs were rebirthing in a couple of years back has been sliding down hillsides and causing devastation across Central America, with rural Guatemala particularly badly affected.
Somewhat unusually, the global news media took an immediate interest, probably because a) the root cause was a topical tropical hurricane and b) one of the worst-affected locations was Santiago Atitlan, on a lake visited by thousands of tourists each year and where many foreigners have established expensive chalet-style homes.
It's clear that the Spanish have been especially speedy in delivering assistance, both here and over in Pakistan. Typically the UK media is determined to give the impression that the relief effort has been both patchy and predominantly British.
Officially the death toll from Stan in Guatemala is 652, but unofficial sources suggest that the real figure is in excess of 1800. Whole communities buried by landslides have been abandonned and declared mass cemeteries.
The economic damage is likely to be long lasting: for instance 75,000 hectares of the 185,ooo dedicated to sugar cane production have been flooded.
As with Mitch 8 years ago, the storm aftermath has included roadblocks, hoarding, corruption and vehicle hold-ups. Last week a team of Welsh broadcasters came close to being lynched and killed by an angry machete-waving mob in a Guatemalan village near Chichicastenango , apparently mistaken for government surveyors speculating on sacred Mayan land.
Another calamidad publica that afflicted Guatemala last week was a 5-2 trouncing by the pinche Mexicanos that leaves them in 5th place in their qualifying group, two points adrift of Trinidad and Tobago, now favourites to clinch the play-off place for Germany 2006.
There was also a moderate quake (5.8) in the region on Friday. President Oscar Berger has declared 3 days of national mourning.
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