San Bartolo, Totonicapán facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
San Bartolo
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Municipality
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San Bartolo within Totonicapán
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Totonicapán within Guatemala
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| Country |  Guatemala |
| Department |  Totonicapán |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal |
| Population
(2012)
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| • Total | 18,590 |
| • Ethnicities | K'iche' Ladino |
| • Religions | Catholicism Evangelicalism Maya |
San Bartolo is a special kind of town called a municipality in the Totonicapán Department of Guatemala. It is located north of San Francisco El Alto and west of Santa María Chiquimula.
Contents
Exploring San Bartolo's Landscape
San Bartolo is in a very hilly area with rugged highlands. Imagine tall pine trees and reddish soil, which makes the area look a bit like the Appalachian mountains in the southern USA.
Hot Springs and Limestone
The ground here is made of something called limestone, which has many small holes. The main town is called San Bartolo Aguas Calientes, which means "St. Bartholomew's Hot Springs." This is because it's only about one kilometer away from a small place with a geothermal hot spring. People can visit this spring for relaxation.
Hurricane Stan and Its Impact
In early 2005, people living in a part of town downhill started to notice cracks in their houses. They could even hear water moving underground. Later that year, in October 2005, a big storm named Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala.
Heavy Rains and Landslides
Hurricane Stan turned into a tropical storm that stayed over the highlands for several days. It poured over 2,500 millimeters (100 inches) of rain! This huge amount of rain caused the land under 22 houses to slide and drop, completely destroying them.
Helping the Community Rebuild
After the disaster, the government of Guatemala was not able to provide much help to the families who lost their homes. These families had to live in temporary shelters.
Building New Homes
By the middle of 2006, a group called the United Methodist Church started sending teams from the USA to help. These teams worked to build new, permanent houses for the families who had lost their homes, as long as they could find new land to build on.
See also
In Spanish: San Bartolo (Totonicapán) para niños
