I spoke with the folks at La Guacamaya located about 4 miles north of Xcalak this afternoon. They are fine. They said the storm hit hardest south of them and there was considerable damage in the town. They said that as you got north of the town, each mile seemed to have less damage. They said a lot but not all trees were downed and all the underbrush within 30-yards of the shore line was washed away. I wasn't 100% clear on all the details on this part but it sounded like that ocean surge went all the way across to the lagoon at their place but the waves weren't as tall as Mitch generated. They didn't get storm surge water into their house but some wind driven water did enter. When Mitch hit, the debri made as high as our top step but didn't enter our house. They hadn't been to our place (about a mile and a half further north of them) but speculated that we didn't get storm surge water in our first floor either.
The tall tower that held the Costa de Cocos wind generator snapped. They said that much of the beach road was completly covered in conch shells. They also said the beach road had holes big enough to swallow a tire.
[This message has been edited by Joel K (edited 10-03-2000).]