Wilma 26

the front bar at Hotel NaBalam

As a new month opened, things started to get better and better. We now were getting water for 8 hours a day and stopped worrying so much about it. The sun returned and temperatures were warming up to where they should be. Every passing day saw the sea loosing its’ angry green look and returning to it’s brilliant blues.

Even though only parts of the island had electricity returned, many people had gotten their hands on generators so there was starting to be lights shining everywhere. And more and more restaurants were opening. Still no tourists, but lots of local people. We saw a very strange thing one night while sitting at the bar in Bamboo restaurant.

Many of the stores and restaurants on the main street downtown, Hidalgo, are located in what look like single stall garages with a metal door that slides up. Just like a garage door! Bamboo Restaurant occupies four of these stalls and has taken out the interior walls, making for one huge space. Three of the garage doors were down, making it look like from the street that only the bar area was open. Which was true. The waiters were all there even though they were not serving food. I don’t know where it came from, but the cook brought out a huge platter of shredded meat and set it on one of the tables, blocked to the public view. He also placed several forks on the platter with it. The waiters came running in from the street, grabbed a fork and just stood there around the platter, stuffing meat into their mouths as quickly as they could. They would take about five mouthfuls and hand their fork over to the next person in line. By now, word (or smell!) had gotten around that Bamboo had meat and every waiter in the immediate area took a turn at it with one of those forks. It would have been funny had it not been so sad. We could tell that these guys were really hungry as they stuffed their mouths in total silence. Not a word was exchanged and they would just silently hand the fork over to the guy in line behind them. Everybody got some.

I felt so guilty watching them out of the corner of my eye. It would have been impolite to just stare. These guys probably had not had meat since before the hurricane and, I am sure, had very little else to eat either. With no work for the first few weeks, none of them had any money. Saving money is just not very popular here. B and I decided at that moment that we could not help everybody, but we could certainly do whatever we could for our friends. From then on, we had our friends over in rotation for either lunch or dinner. There was a lot of chicken available by this time and we ate a lot of it! I never got sick of it because I knew the reason I was having so much of it was so that somebody else could have some too. I guess I would have preferred at times to just give them a damn chicken, but that is too blatantly charity and would not have been appreciated.

In exchange for feeding our friends, we got a lot of company, had a lot of laughs during an otherwise stressful time, sharpened our Spanish skills by speaking Spanish for hours on end…and we finally learned the proper (read Mexican!) way to play Dominos!

Wilma 25

Life was starting to seem normal to us by Sunday, October 30. We were coping with no electricity and getting sort of used to it. Not liking it, but coping with it. It sure made for a healthy life style, bed at dusk, up at dawn. I felt like the unwilling pioneer!

Still no telephone or internet and communicating with the outside world was still impossible. We worried about what our friends and family were thinking. But there was no way to contact them nor for them to contact us. That was a helpless feeling. I know how I felt back in Merida when I could not contact anybody on the island.

We were having water pumped to our neighborhood for six hours a day now. That meant that the water shortage/rationing days were over. But we stuck to our rationing regime. Maybe loosening it a bit, but not knowing for sure if the water would be constant. It was being pumped from the station downtown using huge generators, but these could fail and then we would be without water again. For now, better safe than sorry.

This was also a very sad day for us. Our best friend, L, would be leaving the next day. He had accepted a job leading tour groups in South America. From Ecuador to Santiago, Chile. He would be gone for a year and we knew we would miss him immensely. We had a great lunch that day though. We had invited our dear friend, P, down for lunch and to say goodbye to L. I don’t even remember what we had, but I remember it was good!

We had also heard that one of our favorite Happy Hour bars downtown was going to reopen tonight. B, L and I made our way downtown that night and it was true. Don Chepo’s was indeed open. No electricity though. They had gotten a hold of some of those Tiki oil burning yard lights and had them stuck up everywhere, providing an eerie but workable light. They were cooking food since they used gas AND they had cold beer!!!! Of course they were not supposed to be selling it. But they did. A buck is a buck! We asked the owner if she could legally sell beer and she just shook her fist in the direction of city hall and said that the ban had gone on for too long and it was hurting people. They could just go &$^^%# their mother! (sure enough, enough businesses must have complained because the next day the ban was lifted) We didn’t stay downtown long. Just long enough to enjoy our 2 for 1 COLD drinks, and then back home. L had to be up early the next day and catch his ferry to Cancun, his new adventure and whatever else lay in store for him in South America.

Wilma 24

Mexico has no FEMA. After a disaster, the government helps as best it can, but mostly it is left to the people themselves to get on with their lives using whatever resources they have available to them. Which usually is not much. However, it was different this time. Very different.

The government jumped into action at an almost incredible speed. As soon as Wilma was safely out of the way, helicopters started landing, bringing with them precious supplies of bottled water and food supplies. Wave after wave of helicopters were landing and being unloaded by the military. Most of the supplies were then transported to the Red Cross who did a fantastic job of distributing everything. At first, they came door to door with water but later, as I have mentioned, they made people come to them. Either way, it was an impressive display of how an organization like the Red Cross should work.

As soon as the car ferry could run and the road was cleared to it, the trucks with new water pipes, power poles, spools of electric wire and all kinds of supplies like that to rebuild our infrastructure were transported here. Included in this were the CFE trucks and workers.
There were CFE trucks here from Monterrey, Sinola, Nuevo Loredo and Saltillo. All cities or states in the northern part of Mexico, a long journey from here. And 150 workers came with them. These guys worked 24 hours around the clock to get our electric up and running again. Each shift worked 12 hours a day in a 15 day rotation. The first wave cleared out all the downed lines and poles. They were followed by the crews setting new poles and then the guys who climbed these poles and put up the wire. They did just a tremendous job.

And their work did not go unappreciated by most of the residents here either. People would take them food, Coke, water, give them anything they had just to say thank you to them for the great job they were doing. CFE paid for their hotel rooms and the island paid for their breakfast. Any other meal they had to pay for themselves. Many restaurants (and people) thought this unfair. As a result, as more and more of the power was restored, these guys found themselves being treated to free meals and drinks at various restaurants downtown.

They started with the grid downtown, on the north end of the island, and worked their way south. Since we are 3 miles from downtown, we knew it would take a while to reach us. All in all, we were only without electricity for 12 days! I think that is a miracle. We were thinking that it would be months, based on all the destruction we had seen driving back to the island. Say what you will about the Mexican government and its’ undeniable corruption, but when the chips were done, it behaved admirably and got the job done. (compare this to New Orleans!)

B and I stopped by our friend’s restaurant downtown one night. Many of you know it. Fredy’s. There was a group of ten CFE workers eating and drinking in front. Fredy apologized that he had hardly any food left but could make us a fish fillet and that was all. He said the CFE guys had eaten every bit of food he had on hand, plus drank all the beer. (by this time, most of downtown had electricity and the drinking ban had been lifted) We told him that that was great news, now he had a bit of income to help out. He just shook his head no. He said that the CFE workers were his guests. He was giving them whatever they wanted for free! This was his way of saying thank you to them for helping all of us in our time of need. We were dumbstruck at this. He needed money badly after the storm and could have charged them, or just opened up as normal. Instead he chose to be a good Samaritan, expecting no pat on the back and nothing in return. I have a deep respect of him for doing this.

But he wasn’t alone, we knew this was going on all over downtown. We just had not encountered it so up close and personal.

At any rate, thank you CFE for a job well done!!!

Wilma 23

Rebuilding the wooden bridge to the Avalon Reef Club

Today is Saturday, October 29, 2005. We took the ferry across to Puerto Juarez today to get our car where I had left it the day after we got back. (was it only just last Monday night? It seems like a lifetime ago!) I was really worried that all the gas would have been siphoned out so we brought the gas can with us. My fears were unfounded though. I had parked it in the same guarded parking lot that I had used when I evacuated the car from the island during Emily last July. We wanted the car on the mainland then in case we had to make a run for it. Also in case the car ferry stopped running and to avoid any damage from flying debris or whatever. The tank was still full and the people who own the lot did not overcharge me or try to gouge the price. How nice to find trustworthy people.

We collected the now very dirty car and drove into the city. We found a gas station that was open and running on generator power. After a short wait in line, we topped off the tank and filled the gas can. Our goal was to make our way down Avenue Bonampak and get to Plaza las Americas. This is the shopping mall we passed on the way in. It looked then like somebody had dropped a bomb on it. We had heard that the grocery store there had reopened. We found this hard to believe but wanted to check it out and see what we could find there. Plus L was flying to South America on the 31st and needed to talk to Mexicana Airlines. Their office is right across the street from the mall so we were killing two birds. We have heard that the airport is still closed, or at least the terminals are. All flights are taking off and landing visually since the control tower has been so badly damaged.

We got to the grocery store and were very disappointed. It looked like it had been looted. Lots of empty shelves, no meat, no vegetables and no bakery. We couldn’t even restock our fast dwindling wine supply because there is still a no alcohol ban in effect. We found a few items and headed straight back to the car ferry. Cancun is still very dangerous and not a place to spend a lot of time in. Besides which, driving is a nightmare. No traffic lights, power poles still lying across the streets with lines still attached, and cars drive anywhere they want, even the wrong way on one way streets. Everybody is just trying to find a way to get to where they need or want to go. After a slightly stressful drive back to Punta Sam, we were safely loaded onto the ferry and on our way home again.

The ferry has been interesting since it started running again. Until the ferry started, all supplies were being brought over from the mainland by helicopter. They were taking off and landing all day. It made me feel like we were really in a disaster area with all the airlifted supplies coming in. Mostly water. The car ferry was operating on a strictly supplies only rule. No construction material was being brought over yet unless there was room. First priority to load were island residents trying to get home, then any trucks with food or water and, of course, the wonderful CFE trucks!

CFE stands for Commission of Federal Electricity and is Mexico’s one and only electricity provider. Lots of monopolies like that here. Basically any company that ends with the word MEX is federally owned. Like the gas stations are all called PeMex. (PEtroleumMEXico) I want to say just a bit about CFE in the next chapter.

Wilma 22

Waves took out the wooden bridge leading to the Avalon Reef Club on North Beach


We saw in the local paper today that Beta and Gamma have been named. Thus creating a record for the most hurricanes in one season. I could easily live the rest of my life never hearing the H word again! They are not expected to come our way, but it is unnerving anyway that they are still forming this late in the season. We only have two weeks left to the official season.

I am still concerned about the sea and keep a close eye on it. Although there is no danger of it rising or crossing the road to get into my house, it is still very angry looking out there. It just won’t settle down. Waves are still coming it at about seven feet high. Impressive but worrying. The hot temperatures that normally follow immediately after a hurricane are gone. Daytime highs are about 78F and nighttime lows are around 71F. Cold enough to put a blanket on the bed at night! I know, this probably sounds like a great temperature to all you up north, but, believe me, for us it is cold! The wind comes in directly off the ocean, is strong and very chilly. We have no supplemental heating system and can only close our doors and windows to keep the wind out. This doesn’t work very well though!

We finally have some water! They have repaired the lines enough and brought over some huge generators that we are now getting water to fill our rooftop tanks. It is only on for four hours a day, but that is tremendous luxury, knowing that what we use now is being replaced everyday. And no more standing in line with buckets for the local people either. A great piece of progress. We have now discovered that one of our tanks has a leak. Or maybe one of the pipes leading in or out it has been pulled loose. To me, these water tanks are a confusing mess of pipes and joints. We are going to have to try to get the plumber out to fix it. Water is running off the roof. Besides being an awful waste of water, it is making a mess! These tanks work on the same principle as your toilet tank. As the water level goes down, there is an arm inside them with a float. When the water is turned on, it is pumped into the tank on the roof and the float shuts it off when it reaches the top. Watch your toilet tank fill sometime and you will know what I am talking about.

The local store is getting more and more stuff. But still no fruits or vegetables. We have plenty of canned goods, including many cans of fruit cocktail. L figured we should buy this because there would be no fruit after the storm and we would probably appreciate it. Wrong! We all hate it and, until recently, the cans remained on the pantry shelf. We finally gave them away and will not be replacing them! Next time we will just buy plain cans of peaches, pears or something like that. We sure would love a fresh salad about now….or even better…..bacon!!!

Wilma 21

We had not been to Cancun since our hurried return to the island, it was interesting to hear Luis talk about what Cancun looked like now. He said Cancun looked like, and was, a battle zone. We had seen just a bit of the devastation for ourselves, but it was interesting and chilling to hear about it from him. Luis was born in Cancun and knows the area fairly well.

They got back to Cancun too late to catch a ferry back so they had spent the night safely ensconced in a friend・s home. They were glad to have a safe place to stay. Gangs have formed and are running wild over there. It is just not a safe place to be・for anyone. They are terrorizing neighborhoods, robbing, mugging and stealing whatever they want. The local authorities are just spread to thin right now to effectively deal with the problem. We have been following some of the stories in the local paper. I vividly recall one where somebody answered a knock on their door, only to be met with a swinging machete! They show pictures of this kind of stuff in the papers here. Nothing is too gruesome or morbid to print. In fact, it seems sometimes that the more blood there is, the better the picture. It is very disconcerting to turn the page in the newspaper and unexpectedly see a picture of some seventeen year old kid still hanging from the noose he used to commit suicide, tongue usually hanging out. But I digress again.

People are very frightened in Cancun right now. Neighborhoods have formed vigilante watch groups and patrol their area at night. They have set up burning barrels all along their streets, burning debris from the storm, in an attempt to keep some light and the thieves at bay. We have no plans to return to Cancun in the near future. Except that I still have to go over and get my car and L has to go over and catch a flight to South America in a few days.

Here on the island, it is relatively calm. We have been cautioned by friends to keep our doors locked at all times and never leave the house unattended. One of us should always be here. There has been some looting in the more expensive homes south of us and some petty thievery (like somebody siphoning all the water out of P's water tank!) but nothing major. Certainly no bodily harm that we have heard of...yet! I doubt that it will get as bad here as on Cancun. There are regular police, federal police and the military everywhere here. And they are patrolling with loaded rifles. You can actually see the bullets in the clips of their guns as you walk by them. Still, it is an uneasy feeling, knowing that if something were to happen, there is no way to call for help. No telephones work yet.

Besides the risk of a potential mugging and the still imposed curfew, Luis told us that there was another good reason why we should stay indoors after dark. It seems that the zoo on the island was devastated also. Cages torn open and thrown about, releasing a lot of the animals. Not that there were that many to begin with. The monkeys all got out but huddled together and were found safe and sound and put back in temporary cages. None of the alligators are to be seen anywhere. They think they may have escaped to the nearby lagoons. If you are familiar with the island, that would be by Playa Loncheros and Sac Bajo. As these water bloated lagoons drain and dry up again, they hope to be able to find them and recapture them. But the worst, and the one that has everyone nervous, is that the spotted leopard is gone and is running around somewhere loose on the island!

People are being warned to keep children and pets indoors and in sight at all times. And to close their doors at night...if they still have one! It is probably just holed up in the jungle in the middle of the island anyway, eating stray dogs and cats, but one never knows for sure.

(footnote: All but two of the alligators were eventually recaptured. Nobody knows what happened to them. Maybe made it out to sea? Maybe still in the lagoon by the Yacht Club? It is anybody・s guess but they have not been seen in all these months. The spotted leopard was caught three weeks after Wilma passed. They had to hire a professional tracker to come to the island and dart it. It now has a new home in Xcaret, a tourist trap south of Cancun)

Wilma 20

Jax Bar and Restaurant

Today is Friday, October 28. I guess we are officially refuges of the storm now. This morning was another first in our lives. We stood in line at the Red Cross for an hour in the sweltering heat, waiting our turn to get a free handout. Of course, we were the only white faces among the crowd. No self respecting Gringo would be caught dead standing in a relief line here.

The Red Cross had come knocking at our door at 9:30 PM last night. We were all sound asleep and were awakened by shouting on our porch. With all the fears of looting and robbery, we were pretty well scared to answer the door. We peeked out the bedroom window, which looks onto the front porch, and saw several teenage boys and girls standing there in Red Cross shirts. We figured looters would not come onto the porch and loudly yell “Red Cross”. Or would they? We talked to them through the window for a bit and then ended up opening the door. They put our name on a list with how many people were in the household and then gave us a ticket to get the aforementioned handouts the next morning. We really did not have much interest in standing in line for stuff at the Red Cross. We figured that if they gave out anything good, we would just give it to our neighbors who are worse off than we are.

The appointed hour of 11 AM found us standing in line with a lot of our neighbors and a lot of familiar faces. Even though I had been successful in getting some gas for our scooter, B and I decided to walk over. We didn’t think it would look right if we showed up on a scooter, advertising that we could afford to have gas. Of course, everybody there had either driven their own scooter, been dropped off by a scooter or had arrived by taxi. So much for our sensitivity issues!

For our effort, we were given a bag that contained a bag of rice, two small bags of macaroni, a roll of toilet paper, one box of instant noodle dinner, where you add hot water and let it steep, and two boxes of corn starch! We had no idea why the corn starch, but we found out later that the locals make a pudding of sorts out of it. We also got three small bottles of water. We were also shown a box of Kotex and told that if there was a woman in our house, we could have one, just one. We declined, but I was left to wonder, what good would one Kotex be? I suppose better than nothing. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that they are reversible so that one can use both sides.

Heading back home, we caught up with our neighbors. The same ones that we had given the free shrimp too. It was mother, daughter and 2 grandsons. They were struggling to carry the six bottles of water, three bags of food and the 10 month old baby. We offered to help carry their stuff for them, since we only had the one small bag of stuff. As we walked, we noticed groups of people forming on the street corners of the main road at the top of the hill. Our neighbor told us that President Fox was visiting the island and everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of him. She asked us if we wanted to stop and wait also, or drop off the stuff and come back to wait. B asked her, “Is he bringing electricity with him? Does he have water for everybody? No, he is just here to look good and see how bad things are.” They thought this was quite funny. They asked anybody who would listen the same questions. They were all of a sudden quite political!

As it turns out, this was the day that he made no friends on the island anyway. This was the day he announced his big plan to put sand back on the beaches of Cancun. There is absolutely no sand left over there at all. Most of it blew over here! The waterfront hotels are really waterfront now, actually having water inside their ground floors! He said he was pledging 250 million DOLLARS to rebuild the beaches! An astronomical amount of money. We can understand why he is willing to spend this kind of money on that project. Cancun is the largest money making tourist industry in the country. It generates an estimated 11 million dollars of revenue a day for the economy here. (source: Por Esto newspaper) Getting it back up and running was of the highest priority. Of course, the man and woman on the street do not understand this. They understand that they have no homes, no electricity, little food and no water. They think these are more urgent and important needs than sand!


UPDATE: Two dredging boats were brought in and did, after four months of round the clock dredging, get the beaches back on the Cancun hotel zone. But at what cost? The currents around here have been totally changed because the bottom of the ocean has been changed. Fish have moved and the fishermen continue to have a hard time finding the schools needed to fill their nets. Our beautiful North Beach is collapsing into the ocean, palm trees are being undermined and falling into the water as the beach retreats in the area between Maria del Mar and Nabalam. In fact, the beach front restaurant at the Nabalam is fighting a loosing battle right now to avoid sinking. The whole corner is sandbagged but the building itself is starting to be undermined. Many blame this on all that dredging.

Wilma 19

Over the next few days, as more and more of our friends surfaced and stopped by, we heard some incredible stories. I, for one, was glad we made the decision to vacate. Even though our house fared extremely well, I would really not have liked to have been here. I can not even imagine what it must have been like to live through that howling demon for three whole days! And I would have been frantic about where the ocean was in relationship to my house. But, one of the more interesting stories was one told to us by Luis, our carpenter friend.

Luis’ boss, Mateo, decided that he needed a generator. He runs a small carpentry shop and there was a desperate need for his services. Mateo had heard that somebody in the small village near Francisco May had one for sale. After the storm he decided to load Luis into his truck and head over there to check it out.

The village they were headed for is located outside of Cancun. To get to it, you have to watch for the one little sign that points down a jungle path. I guess it is a road of sorts, tracks cut through the jungle big enough for a car. It is one of those roads ones sees cutting into the jungle everywhere but one has no idea of where it may lead….if anywhere! I, myself, would never drive on one of these roads for fear of where it may end up. Not even when I had the Jeep down here would I have dared. But Mateo and Luis had no such qualms and when they saw the sign, they turned onto the road.

They had not gone very far when the road disappeared into a lake of water caused by the massive rainfall during Wilma. It was too far for them to attempt to drive across and they had no idea of how deep it was. Judging from how high it was on the surrounding and covered brush, they figured it would be well over their heads. So nothing to do but get out and start walking, which is what they did. At first it wasn’t too bad. Luis said it was impossible to tell how deep it was or if they were even walking on the road. The surface of the water was covered with at least two inches of shredded green foliage. They had to keep pushing this aside as they walked, being careful of any tree branches and other debris that was in their way.

Eventually they slowly made their way deeper until it was over their heads. At that point they had to swim. Luis said it was awful. They had to try to keep their heads above water and push their way tediously along through this smelly, thick foliage. It smelled like the stuff you clean out of the bottom of your lawn mower deck. Not quite rotten, but getting there. Finally, Mateo, being taller than Luis by about two inches, was able to put his feet down and felt solid ground under them. Luis said he gave a few more strong dog paddles and his feet, too, felt solid ground. They still had about twenty yards to go to get out of the water and reach the point where the road picked up again.

After picking their way through the fallen and ripped from their joints tree limbs for a few more miles, they finally saw the village ahead. Or what was left of it. Most of the houses are made of wooden poles with either cardboard or straw roofs. Many of these were knocked down and none had a roof remaining. And there were pools of water everywhere and some of the village was actually still under water. They found the man who had the generator and it was still for sale. Mateo paid him with wet money and was the proud owner of a portable generator. Things were looking up. At least he could now get back to work.

Luis said he that thought the village was just creepy. It is one of those villages that hides the womenfolk when strangers enter. He said they did not see a single woman or child in the hours they were there…only men. He said the village was in big trouble too. They were very worried because the water supply was fast running out, as were food supplies. Because of the tremendous amount of flooding in this region, and the overwhelming need for help everywhere, no relief trucks and been to the village yet. Mateo asked them why they just didn’t send some men out to the main road and camp there until a passing truck or somebody who could get them supplies came by. His response sent shivers down both of their spines.

The men of the village, being very familiar with their jungle, were simply afraid to enter the water that surrounded the village and covered the road. This same water that Mateo and Luis had just crossed and had yet to cross again. But this time, with a generator in tow. The reason they were afraid was because this area was home to some giant boa constrictors! The villagers said that there were some big enough to eat a man if they got a hold of you! They were afraid that these snakes were now everywhere around them, using the flooded jungle as a giant highway to easily seek out prey, of which there was probably very little left.

Luis said that on the way back, they held the generators over their heads as best they could and, at the same time, were slapping the water surface with big sticks. (Can you say, “Listen big snakes! Here I am! Hear me splashing my way through the water. Come get me!”)But they made it home safely and, several days later, after the generator had a chance to dry out, Mateo was back in business!

Wilma 18

This chapter is posthumously dedicated to my friend, Dillum. May he find a never ending supply of tuna in Heaven.


Alas, I am not coping well with the aftermath of disaster. B has risen to the challenge and seems to be enjoying it. He loves going out and finding stuff (food!). He loves having to be resourceful and finding new ways to get things done or a new way to conserve even more water. L thinks it is just like camping and is also having fun. I just want my normal, non-deprived life back!

We returned home after my little trip to the repair shop and our visit with P. B had been doing some more thinking about our water situation and had come up with yet another water saving idea. This one involved saving the used dish water and using it to flush the toilet.

I retreated to the safety of our bedroom and had myself a nice primeval scream! It was all just getting to be too much.

I think because they could see that I was fast loosing it, B and L decided that we should splurge with our newly acquired bag of ice and use it to chill a glass of wine for each of us. Now we’re talking sanity again. As we were basking in our refound decadence, our friend Carlos stopped by. We immediately felt guilty that we could splurge on ice just for a glass of wine, but I felt much better when he gladly accepted a warm beer! We asked him how he fared the hurricane.

Carlos had a roommate at that time and they both worked at the same restaurant downtown, Bamboo. Carlos was the bartender and his roommate, Dillum, was a waiter. They both worked as long as Bamboo stayed open the night before the storm and did not have time to make any preparations. Forget the fact that we knew Wilma was coming for a week before she got here. We just did not know how big she would eventually be. Bamboo emptied out its’ freezer that last night and split up the remaining food and meat between the employees. Carlos said he was rich with meat and immediately took it over to his sister’s house for safekeeping. He was planning on returning later to pick it up and have himself a BBQ of sorts.

He said he did return later and was extremely angry to discover that his sister had chopped up all the vegetables and meat he left with her and had added it to a big pot of soup she was making. We thought this was great. At least she had the forethought to know that she was going to have to feed a lot of people with very little. Carlos was still upset, although he admitted that she probably did the right thing. I think he eventually ended up getting one bowl of it.

Then he and Dillum went back to their one room apartment to hunker down for the night and wait for the storm to pass. At this point, they were sure that Wilma was going to be like the last two we had and just pass over during the night and tomorrow morning would be fine. So they had stocked no provisions at all.

They did have two cans of tuna fish. They split one of them before finally going to bed and planned on having the other one for breakfast. But that was not to be. Sometime during the night, Dillum woke up, decided he was still hungry and ate the other can while Carlos slept! When he discovered this, Carlos gave Dillum a good yelling but then let it pass. More of this life is life attitude. So they were holed up for three days with no food and one bottle of water. I felt sorry for him and we could not help but admonish him about the value of stocking up on something and especially water. One never knows how long it may be before food is available again. He agreed but I am sure will act just the same the next time.*

Listening to his story and his attitude about his selfish roommate, I was again amazed at the aftermath attitude displayed by so many people here. It is mostly just a shrug of the shoulder, we will survive attitude, no matter how great the personal loss. No whining about it, no woe is me. Just this is what happened to me and I will deal with it. And they usually do it with a sense of humor!

Unlike the American that B encountered a few days after the hurricane. He is having a new house built here and renting down the street from us in the meantime. A large, two story house. He had a generator and his lights, everyone of them, were burning 24/7. Plus his air conditioning and his refrigerator/freezer were working. Did he think to offer to make and give ice to people? No. His biggest concern and gripe was that nobody had showed up to work on his house for three days and it was putting him behind schedule. B said to him that he should take a look around. Maybe his workers were busy trying to rebuild their own houses and/or find food for their families. Some people! We hate this attitude from the white people on the island. Totally, me, me, me!

* For Hurricane Dean recently, he did stock up. Three cans of tuna and three boxes of just add water soup! Guess he learned his lesson!

Wilma 17

Prior to my leaving to get my motor scooter back, B returned from downtown and his latest foraging efforts. He had both goodies and news! He had found potatoes, three tomatoes, hamburger and six bananas at the downtown grocery store! Fresh meat! We were elated. He also reported that the grocery store now had its’ generator up and running and it was possible to buy cold Coke! No beer yet as the ban on all alcohol was still in effect. He also reported that the gas station was now open.

On his way home, he had stopped by our local bakery up the hill and they had told him that they would have bread by 2:00 PM. The local popsicle factory had somehow gotten a generator and were now producing ice, freezing purified water in bags for sale. They also told him to return at 2:00 PM and get in line! Ahh, life’s little wonders and joys.

Our stove and oven is run off an LP gas tank so we were able to cook and heat water for coffee. I fired up the stove and fried up the hamburger immediately since we still had no refrigeration. The three of us sat down to lunch and gobbled down two Sloppy Joes each. It was sheer delight and a true culinary pleasure.

It was right after lunch that Lola appeared and hailed me to come get my motor scooter. Since 2:00 PM was now approaching, B left to go get in line for that fresh bread and bag of ice. B was also going to first stop by our friend P’s house and give her four of the thirty eggs that L had fetched home at noon. We would have gladly given her more but she both would not accept more and she would not have eaten them before they went bad in that awful heat that follows a hurricane.

So I then left to have my aforementioned adventure of picking up my motor scooter. From there I drove to P’s house to hook up with B and L. I told the three of them my tale of crooks and thieves and they all consoled me that it was a dirty rotten shame but nothing to do about it. We decided that I would return home, grab the gas can and go downtown and try to get it filled. It is only a gallon can, but a gallon of gas lasts a long time in a motor scooter!

After many dead ends and turn arounds due to closed roads and impassable streets, I finally wound my way all the way downtown. The lines for gas was, to say the least, incredible! Normally, the main street downtown is a divided road, one way north, one way south. Because of the sand still piled high on the southbound side making it impassable to traffic, the northbound lane was bumper to bumper with cars, taxis and motor scooters. The opposite side was full of people all lined up on top of the sand. They were all carrying some kind of container to get gas. From the normal red gas can (very few of these) to empty plastic Coke bottles. Anything that could be put into use as a liquid carrier was evident. Both of these lines started at the ferry dock, a good three blocks before one actually gets to the gas station. It would have been hours and hours of waiting in line just to get a gallon of gas. And, given the two facts that I do not speak fluent Spanish and that Mexicans are notorious for cutting in line, the prospects of my even getting any gas were slim. It was an awful decision but I weighed my chances of being successful in this endeavor and decided not to waste my time, energy and nerves at this point. I took the chance that I would have enough fumes to get home and turned the scooter around and found my way back home.

Back at home and we decided that I would leave early in the morning and see if my chances would be any better. Hopefully all the gas they had now delivered would not be sold out…or another gas truck would come over and refill the tanks. Either way, I had to give it a try.

Wilma Picture Day

Today I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to give you a short break from all that reading! Instead I am going to regale you with some of the better Wilma damage pictures from the island. I highly recommend clicking on them to make them bigger. The detail is worth it. Ready? Here we go!

Remember I said that we when we got back to the island and reached the end of the ferry dock we found nothing but sand? This is the main street along the bay, looking north. The street had been plowed a bit here but I think they just gave up for awhile. The sand was very wet and heavy.




More of the road sand. This pictures also illustrates how enduring palm trees are and how suited they are to this climate. There were a lot of broken branches but most of them survived. The only ones that dies were the ones that lost their growing top. That bit in the middle.



If you walked to the end of the plowed area in the picture above and turned around, this was your view. The sand was just too deep at this point to be removed. Both sides of the road had been cleared for a bit and scooters were able to get through.






These are garbage bins. The openings in them are about four feet off the ground. The curb on the right is actually a small wall that helps keep the beach sand from blowing onto the road. Not very effective against the winds of Wilma! By the way, a lot of this sand was originally in Cancun, about 8 miles away. Part of the reason they had to pay over 11 billion US Dollars to pump sand in from the ocean bottom. And the reason many think is responsible for the beach erosion we are experiencing here on the island. Digging up all that ocean bottom changed the way the currents flow.







One of the beachside restaurants. Notice what a good job the netting did of keeping the palapa roof in place.



Same thing here.

Here we have one of the local fishing boats. They pulled it way up onshore to keep it safe from the water. Guess they didn't figure on all the sand!

Finally my favorite picture of all the ones I took after the storm. These are full grown palm trees. They are probably around 15 feet tall. I think it adequately serves to show just how much sand got piled up here.

That's it for now. I will be sprinkling a few more pictures in as we go along, but I wanted you to get a real feel for what it was like physically here. C'mon back Monday for the next exciting chapter and see what I have to bitch about now!

Wilma 16

Sometime after lunch we heard an “hola” being shouted from the front porch. I went to investigate who the visitor was, since I did not immediately recognize the voice. It was Lola, the wife of Luis, our carpenter friend. She had come to tell me that my scooter was done and that I could go pick it up. The only problem was, I did not know where it was! Lola explained that this was not a problem because she had to pick up Luis’ scooter too, so we could just go together.

So off we went, up the hill behind our house to the top of the island and then down the other side. She led me to a greasy, dirty little hole in the wall motor scooter and engine repair place. At that point I did not especially care what the place looked like, I just wanted my transportation back. Before that could happen, they had to show Lola and me the tires they had removed from our respective scooters and what the damage was. Incredibly, my tire and Luis’ tire had exactly the same kind of damage and almost in the same spot on both tires! I mentally scratched my head at this unusual development. What were the chances that we had both run over the same kind of nail in almost exactly the same spots on our tires? Slim to none, you say? So did I! Having satisfied themselves that we agreed the tire inner tube was beyond repair and we did, indeed, need to purchase a new one, which was already conveniently installed, they rolled out our scooters.

The bill for this repair was 180 pesos, or about $17. I guess I really did not think that was too bad of a price to pay for the new inner tube and labor combined. It did burn my butt a bit that I knew they probably wrecked the original tube beyond repair so that they could sell us new ones.

Poor Lola though. She only had 70 pesos to her name and they would not release the scooter to her unless the bill was paid in full. I was contemplating “loaning” her the money, knowing I would never see it back but not much caring. This family has been so helpful to us in our lives down here that anything I can do to help them out is fine with me. However, before I could tell Lola that I would make up the difference, they announced that since both scooters were brought in by the same person, they would not release either scooter until both had been paid for! I found this appalling but unfortunately typical. Somehow the rules down here are always subject to change and sometimes even get made up on the spot! Although I was going to give Lola the money anyway, I felt like I was being extorted into paying for Luis’ scooter just to get mine. Ok, no big deal in the entire scheme of things. So I paid up and Lola hopped on Luis’ scooter and off she sped. She must have yelled “gracias” over her shoulder as she sped away because I certainly did not hear it from her while I was paying the bill!

The repair guy gave me my keys and I fired up my scooter. Before I pulled away, I glanced down at the fuel gage. I was shocked to see the needle was in the red area of the Empty category! Especially since when they came and got the scooter, the tank was full! Can we say siphon? I pointed to my gauge and asked what happened to the gas. I was met with blank stares and looks of “duh” from the now totally gathered around me crew. All five of them. The boss then said that it was empty when they got it. I looked from face to face as they stepped in even closer to me and, even knowing that they were lying through their gold capped teeth, I decided the better course of action was to drop it and just leave.

As I backed it out of the driveway/repair stall, the boss followed me and asked me for a tip! I just looked at him and it was my turn to give him the "duh" look. I gave him a firm no as my answer. What a bunch of crooks. First they more than likely did more damage to my tire in order to sell me a new one, then they extorted Luis’ payment out of me, then they stole gas out of my tank and yet had the prairie oysters to ask for a tip. In case you can’t tell, months later and I am still angry with them. Needless to say, they will never get any of my business again. Nor will I ever send another person to them for work. I hope they spent that 170 pesos well.

Later that evening, Luis stopped by and tried to pay me back for the money I forked over earlier. I would not take it and the two of us commiserated with each other over what crooks these guys turned out to be. Luis assured me that he would never do business there again either and kept apologizing to me for their actions. Lesson learned for the both of us.

Wilma 15

Thursday, October 27, 2005
Last night had been a late one for me. It was 9:20 PM before I blew out the candles and went to bed. We had tried playing a few rounds of Dominoes but quickly gave up on it. We just couldn’t see what the big deal was with this game. Maybe we weren’t playing it right because the Mexicans play all the time and love it. We then tried to play a few rounds of Rummy but nobody’s heart was in it. B and L decided to go to bed. I still had a warm beer to finish and I was not going to waste it. Thus the late night for me!

the ocean road about half a mile south of me. water damage from storm surge.

Even with having stayed up so late (!), we were all up before sunrise again. At this time of year, late October, that is about 6:00 AM. As we waited for the water to boil for our morning coffee, we watched another gloriously beautiful sunrise unfold over the ocean. I once again marveled at how nature could produce such a work of beauty but turn around, and with the same ingredients, produce such terror and devastation. Watching the sunrise, it was easy to forget for a moment the devastation all around us. But all I had to do was look to my right at my neighbor’s house to be instantly reminded of it.

The water itself was also a reminder. Usually it is those intense shade of blues, fading in and out of light blue to dark blue with pieces of blue topaz thrown in for good measure. Not now. It is still choppy with lots of waves and is a pale emerald green. No sparkle or shine to it at all. Here and there it is dotted with areas of brown. Seaweed torn up from someplace out there and now floating and finding its’ way to our shores to lie there and rot and stink in the blazing sun.
Seeing as how it was my morning to make coffee, I reluctantly said goodbye to the sunrise and turned my attention to the kitchen. We were fortunate in the coffee department too. Having no electricity, using the coffee maker was out of the question. Months before, B had decided that he occasionally wanted a “good” cup of coffee so he had bought a French Press in Cancun. This is what we now used to obtain our daily fix of caffeine. With our steaming java in front of us, we sat down to discuss what our day’s activities were going to be.

the road to Garrafon Park. The power poles were like this everywhere.

I hate to shop. In all of its’ forms. Except for shoes but I won’t go there now! The daily scavenger hunts that we conducted around the island, to see what food items might now be available, were not my thing at all. I hated going from little shop to little shop to see if they had gotten anything new and interesting delivered to them from the daily helicopter drop offs. It was decided that B and L would head off on this particular adventure and I would stay home and sweep the floors. Besides the hurricane stuff, we were in a constant battle with the house next door.

The little house and store that used to be next to us had been sold to a fellow American. In September they started tearing these structures down to make way for the new houses that were to be built on this 9 x 20 meter piece of property. And, believe it or not, it was being done all by hand. An older gentleman and his helper were doing all the demolition work using just a sledge hammer. Incredible. But, of course, the cement dust that was being created was incredible also. The wind would carry it into our house and cement dust was covering everything and filling every nook and cranny in our house. With the hot and humid weather that follows a hurricane, it was just out of the question to close the windows. Since we were still rationing water, we did not dare use any to mop the floors or for general cleaning at all. All we could do was sweep, sweep, sweep. And all day long we had to listen to the pound, pound, pound of sledge hammers hitting against cement blocks. It was an aggravating experience to add on top of the insult of Wilma. Besides staying behind to do a little cleaning, I had to stick around because I did not know when the mechanics would return with my scooter.

L decided to head a bit “inland” to the local market. We were hoping to maybe find some fresh meat, vegetables or eggs. We were getting tired of eating our canned goods. Although both B and L were quite creative in the kitchen and were creating some good meals, usually served over a bed of rice. During this period, I was not allowed to cook. My idea at that time of gourmet cooking was to dump a can of soup over rice and call it a casserole.

L returned after a very short time and reported that there was a vendor open that was selling pork. Since we had not seen any pigs delivered to the slaughterhouse a few doors down from us, we figured it was some old stuff that he had stashed somewhere. Probably not very fresh and probably not very safe either. He decided to give it a miss and leave it hanging from the hooks in the stand. He had been told that they were expecting a delivery of eggs around noon so he planned to return then and get in line. No vegetables though and none expected for a few more days. Looked like another meal featuring canned peas for us!

Wilma 14

With no electricity, our internal clocks were getting screwed up. We felt like pioneers, or maybe it was cavemen? We were in bed soon after dark because it was just too difficult to do anything by candlelight. And then it was up at dawn to make as much use as daylight as we could. I wondered how long we were going to have to live like this. Water had still not been restored to the island so we were heavy into conservation, even though we really had plenty of water. We have two water tanks on our roof and one on the cabana. All three of these were full for now so we could flush our toilet and take showers with no problem. But better safe than sorry. What if took weeks to get water restored?

We employed all kinds of water saving measures. We would fill a bowl with dishwater, wash the dishes and set them aside, unrinsed. When everything had been washed, this water was dumped out and fresh water was used to rinse everything. There was no tap to leave running since the water coming from the street was not working. This all had to be done by pouring water out of our bottles of water we had stored before Wilma hit.

the main street on the bay side. invisible under the sand

Showers were quick little things. The water for the shower comes directly from the tanks on top of the house. We waited until late afternoon to shower because the sun had by then heated the tank and we at least had a little warm water. Even so, to my taste, it was still way too cold for human comfort! We were fortunate that we did not have to pour water into the toilet for flushing. Our toilet tank was also hooked directly to the tanks overhead and filled automatically. Much to our disgust, but out of sheer necessity and fear, we had to adopt and live by that old adage, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow…..”, you know the rest! L took it upon himself to become the keeper of the toilet water. He filled the toilet tank with stones from the beach to displace water. He did this until only just enough water needed for a good flush was available in the tank. No wasting of water just swirling around in the bowl doing nothing!

L and I decided at some point to take a little tour around the island on my motor scooter and take some pictures of the damage. It was an interesting tour. We started by heading south from our house, toward the “gringo” end of the island. We saw more of the same type of damage as everywhere else. Downed utility poles, power lines just lying everywhere. Roof top tiles had been ripped off these expensive homes at this end of the island. Windows had imploded or just blown out. Debris and garbage blown everywhere and stuck to the bushes and cacti. We continued on around the island, picking our way at times very carefully around fallen trees, branches and poles. Crews of volunteers were everywhere, already starting to clean up.

notice the cell phone tower lying on the house. also the denuded trees

the road that goes by the lake in the center of the island. the lake is normally about 5 feet below the lower road

Then we entered into the colonias, the neighborhoods in the center of the island where most of the local people live. Some streets were totally impassable. They were either blocked by debris and/or still covered with water. We had a double purpose on this trip of course. We were also stopping at every little neighborhood store that was open to see what provisions we could find. There was not a lot available. We had just gotten back onto the motor scooter and headed down the street when my scooter felt like I was driving it through mud and it started to slip sideways. What now? I stopped and L got off the back. We both looked with dismay at my now flat rear tire. I had evidently driven over a nail, screw or some other piece of debris and had now incapacitated our only form of transportation available to us! I was very angry and upset. Remember, our car was still in a parking lot in Cancun where I had put it for safe keeping until the car ferry returned to service.

L decided to continue scouring the neighborhood on foot and make his own way back home. We both could not be on the bike at the same time now anyway. I was going to very slowly and carefully drive the bike to a repair shop and see if, by some miracle, they might be able to fix it.
I slipped and slid my way along the streets, driving on a flat tire and hoping that I was not damaging the rim. My bike was just too heavy and I am just too old and weak to have pushed it anywhere. I had to take the chance. I got to the repair shop and it was closed! Rats. Now what to do? I was so disgusted at this point, I decided to just drive it home. (or maybe shove it off the cliff into the ocean!) But, once again, our Mexican friends were to come to my rescue. I don’t remember what we were doing at the time, but our friend Luis and his family showed up to see how we were doing.

We were very glad to see them. We had not seen them since our return to the island and we were very curious as to what may have happened to them. They live in the center of the island in a small, one room, cement block building. The roof is made out of those pressed cardboard panels. They took refuge in one of the island shelters during the storm, knowing that their house would probably not be safe. And they were right! At some point during the storm, the roof of their house was totally blown away. This allowed the wind and rain to get in and blow out their door. They lost everything they owned. Everything. Not a stitch of clothing left except what they were wearing during the storm or had been able to pack to take with them. What few personal belongings they had, gone. They were looking at having to start their life over from scratch. It made our situation look rosy and I felt guilty for feeling sorry for myself and the “hardships” we were going through. We had really lost nothing and we at least had money to restock our food and water supplies, should any become available. Luis asked us where our car was and I told him. He then asked if we could do him a favor when we went to Cancun to fetch the car back. Expecting to hear a long list of requests for things they needed, B and I said of course we would get him whatever he needed. We were stunned and amazed when the only thing he asked for was toothbrushes! There were none to be found anywhere on the island. This family had nothing and all he wanted was toothbrushes and seemed embarrassed to even ask for that. He didn’t want us to have to spend to much money or go to too much bother for them. I couldn’t believe that was all he wanted, but it was. Amazing. (of course we loaded them down with as much food as we thought we could spare before they left. We really had plenty of provisions for this disaster and didn’t mind sharing at all)

As they were leaving, he noticed the flat tire on the bike. He asked and I told him what had happened. He said he knew another mechanic that was open and working and he would go talk to them. I thanked him and he left. He returned a short time later and told me that somebody from the shop would stop by and pick up the bike and take it too the shop to fix. Evidently, he had a flat tire on his bike also and they were fixing that too. I thanked him profusely and he went on his way.

Several hours later, somebody from the shop did arrive and I watched as they pushed my bike down the street. Taking it to I don’t where. I had no choice but to trust them and to trust that I would again see my scooter. And, since I trust Luis implicitly, I really didn’t see a problem.

Wilma 13

We arrived at P’s house and were greeted like the long lost friends we were! It was such a fantastic feeling to see her all in one piece and well. I knew deep in my heart while we were gone that she would be ok. But it was nice to see it in person. P is tough, determined and a bit stubborn. I knew a little wind and rain would not get her down.

Her house, too, had suffered some damage and was incredibly dirty. The straw roofed sundeck that she had had on the roof of her house was still there. However, it was in shambles. When one of the power poles went down, it literally snapped a wire across her roof which cut her deck down like a hot knife through butter. She was in for a lot of work to get that mess cleaned up. As well as the expense of replacing it. The worst part though was that she had lost the cover from her water tank also. But, unlike ours, her tank was totally dry. Not a drop of water left in it. (this fact was highly suspect. Water does not just blow out of tank like that. Since she had been gone, staying with friends for three days, we suspect that somebody got on her roof and siphoned the water out.)

P does not have a stove. All of her cooking is done on a hotplate or electric fry pan. Neither of which was going to be working for quite some time. We had several cans of Sterno and a cooker thing to put over it. Since our gas stove was fine and working, we gave her this to use. At least she could warm up some soup and make hot water for coffee. Bare necessities. She hardly had any food in the house either. (P hates shrimp that is not deveined and cleaned so we did not bother giving her any of our lunch…she would not have eaten it.) Or at least nothing that would be easy to prepare. Everybody had lost whatever was in their refrigerators. We told her that we were going on a scavenger hunt to see what might still be available and that we would return later with whatever we could find. She begged us to look for potato chips! We were to learn a lot about cravings in the next few weeks!

I truly forget what B did then. I think he decided to walk around the neighborhood to various little stores to see what they may have. L and I got on the motor scooter to venture a little further a field. About a mile from us is a “bigger” neighborhood grocery store. We stopped there and found enough things to satisfy us for awhile. Cans of soup, beans, chips, stuff like that. Nothing fresh though. The prices were outrageous. Gouging had already started. We got back on the bike and headed back to P’s, where B already was waiting.

We unloaded our goodies onto P’s table and told her to take her pick of anything she wanted. She immediately grabbed the chips! I forget what all was there, but it was not much. We didn’t say anything to her because we did not want her to worry, but we were secretly a little worried about what we had been seeing. Would the island run out of food and fresh water soon? There was not much left to choose from anywhere. And the car ferry was not yet running so no supplies were coming in at all.

Later that afternoon the helicopters started arriving. One after the other all day and for several days. The military was bringing in much needed supplies of fresh water and some food items. This was our first taste of how efficient, generous and caring the Mexican people are during a disaster. Most of these items were taken directly to the Red Cross for distribution. The Red Cross came around in trucks and gave everybody at least one bottle of water and a bag with foodstuffs. Including a giant bag of animal crackers! Some store must have donated them. We were not home when they came around the first time so we missed out on the animal crackers!

As we repacked the grocery items that P did not want, she filled us in on her adventure of riding out the storm for three days. She had been advised by both American and Mexican friends to leave her house by the water and move more to the center of the island. She has some good friends who have a two story house right on the lake in the middle of the island. She spent her time with them. As I remember, there were about eight people riding out the storm there. Just imagine having to share living space with eight people, some friends, some you don’t know, for three days with no leaving the house. And no windows to look out, not enough beds for everybody and no lights except candles. Not a pleasant time. She said that everything was fine until the lake started to rise.

For some reason, whenever there is a storm like this, the air pressure forces water (from the sea??) into the lake from the bottom. This, of course, causes the water level to rise. Add to this the never ending torrential rain for three days and you have one overflowing lake! She said the water was up to their knees before her hosts would allow anybody to go upstairs. To get upstairs in this house, you have to go out to the front porch, walk along it and then go up some stairs to the second level porch. From there you have to walk the entire length of the house to enter the second floor. They were in the process of remodeling up there when the storm hit and knew it would not be a comfortable space. Therefore the hesitancy in moving everybody up there. P said it was a terrifying experience.

She is not a large woman by any means. In fact, quite small, but robust. Once they got through the water and to the stairs, the going got rough. Evidently during the storm they would get assaulted by strong hurricane force winds and then they would die down, only to come at them again. It was during one of these lulls that they made a run for it. She said as soon as she got onto the upstairs porch, the horrific winds hit again. The force of it plastered her to the wall and she was stuck. Her clothes were being forced against the wall and holding her in place. She literally had to do a vertical roll along the wall, she could not walk against it. But they all made it safely inside the house again. Scary stuff. Had I been there, I would have made her tie herself onto me. I would have been afraid she might have been blown away, she is so light weight.

As soon as she thought it safe, which was sometime Sunday afternoon, she made her way home. She had driven her golf cart to this house for safe keeping, parking it in front. As she left for her own house, she said her golf cart was still parked where she had left it, except that only the top third of it was visible sticking out of the water! To get home, she had to travel along a road in one of the lowest parts of the island. Water was up to her waist and full of debris and impossible to see into. She had to very carefully pick her way along, trying to avoid standing water where she could, but not always successful. I just shook my head. She should never had tried to get home alone, but, as stated earlier, she is one determined, stubborn babe! Thankfully, she made it home safely and was fine and in great spirits when we visited. In fact, she could laugh at most of what she had been through. For my part, I did not find anything about this storm funny at all.

Wilma 12

The next morning was Tuesday, October 24, 2005. We awoke before daybreak, anxious to have a good look-see and get at it. We could hardly wait for sunrise so that we could take a good look around.

We were amazed that we had so little damage. Nothing that could not be easily fixed. The gate leading into our back patio had been torn from its’ hinges and was lying on the patio. The cactus garden in front of the cabana was in shreds. One of the plywood covers upstairs had been literally pulled out of the wall. These are secured with screws into anchors imbedded into the concrete block walls. It must have been some force. Luckily, it was wedged between the house and the low wall that surrounds the second floor. The top of one of the two water tanks on top of the house was gone. It was nowhere to be seen. The tops of these screw into the tank so the wind must have found a hold on it and literally unscrewed it. Then it became a giant Frisbee!

The worst though was just the mess. Most of our house looked like it had been sandblasted….which it probably was! The whole house and back patio walls were coated with little pieces of fiber from the straw-roofed houses near us. It took hours and hours of scrubbing with little brushes to get it off since it was imbedded in every nook and cranny of the cement. We considered ourselves very, very lucky. It was on this day that we decided we would not leave the island again for a hurricane. Unless, of course, we are predicted to get hit head on by a Cat 4 or Cat 5 storm. Otherwise, we will seal ourselves in and just stay put. This house is built very strongly and we now are pretty secure that we will be safe from most storms in it.

Our two cats were glad to see us! And we them. We left them on their own to weather it out as best they could. They are actually island cats that have adopted us and the safety of our back yard. It doesn’t hurt that they get a meal of cat food everyday! We don’t feed them very much at a time though. We want them to always be a little hungry so that they continue to remember how to fend for themselves. Three months earlier, during Hurricane Emily, we brought them into the house with us for safe keeping. This time, we could not do that. But they are good island cats and found someplace safe to stay. I should mention something about the island dogs here.

Those of you who have been here know that there is an ongoing problem with the dog population. People here do not believe in spay and neuter. Also, it is an expensive operation and people need to spend their money on food for themselves, not on animals. There is also this pet mentality here. Except for miniature white poodles, pit bulls and a few assorted types, people do not have pets as we know them. We have also seen first hand what happens to that adorable little island puppy when it starts to grow up and become a dog. It is literally chased away from the home it knew until it, too, becomes another wild island dog. Animals are left to fend for themselves. Most of these dogs, even the ones born in the wild, are harmless. They will not approach you or allow you to get too close to them. They are more of a nuisance than a threat.

Fending for themselves mostly means scavenging in garbage, part of the reason why this island is so strewn with garbage. It also means that they are free to breed, and breed, and breed. Most bitches become pregnant at their first heat and continue producing puppies until the day they die. There are some people on the island working to change all of this but it is a tremendous uphill battle. There used to be a free spay/neuter clinic held every year. Vets from the USA would come down for a week and do surgery after surgery for free. Not many people would bring in their pets though. There is also this mentality about emasculating your dog if you have it neutered. Mostly they worked on the strays that were friendly enough to allow themselves to be picked up and taken to the clinic. The local vet on the island, after many years of service, has now left for greener pastures. He is missed.

At any rate, something happened to most of the wild dogs during the hurricane. Maybe it was three days of howling winds, maybe it was three days of not being able to eat, maybe it was three days of being scared out of their minds, but once the hurricane was over they became aggressive. If you got near one, you were certain to be greeted with snarls and sometimes snapping jaws. Some of them have even taken to chasing cars and motor scooters, a deadly game here because people will try to hit them. Dog fights were numerous and frequent. Now, as I write this seven months later, the problem has abated. I think most of the dogs that were showing aggression were killed. I don’t know by whom, but I do know that most of them are gone. The dogs that formed packs are gone also. It was the packs that concerned me.

As B cleaned out the now smelly and totally hot refrigerator, he was delighted to find that the 2 kilos of shrimp in the bottom drawer of the freezer were still frozen! That’s a little over 4 pounds. We get them fresh from our neighbor who is a shrimper and then we freeze them. So we poured 4 bottles of beer into a pot and sat down to a lunch of beer-boiled shrimp. (we have a gas stove so were fine in that regard) We literally gorged ourselves. We could eat no more and there was still a ton of them left in the pot. No way we could eat 4 pounds of shrimp. And we could not keep them with no refrigeration. So we piled them high and precariously onto a plastic plate and I went next door to our favorite neighbors with them. They were delighted, to say the least, to receive this feast. And she did not have to cook anything!

Later that afternoon, after we had cleaned up the majority of the mess, we decided to take a walk down to P’ house and see what the story was there.

Wilma 11

With only L’s little penlight flashlight to guide us, we walked up the side of our house to the back gate. We could not get in the front door because it was still covered with a whole sheet of plywood. L shone his light around and we could see that the cactus garden in front of our cabana next door was in shambles. We expected that no matter what.











It did not look like the cabana had suffered any damage. There was no need to open the back gate because it was no longer there! We discovered it lying on the back patio where it had evidently been blown. We entered the back patio area and could see it had taken a bruising. Branches from the two palm trees, as well as coconuts, were lying about. Trash was everywhere, having been blown in from who knows where. Including flip flops! (this is always a big mystery after any storm. Where do all these single shoes come from? There are usually hundreds of them washed up on the beach.) The walls, in the little light we had, looked like they were covered with hair. The next morning we discovered this was palm strings and pieces of people’s straw houses that had imbedded in the wall. We didn’t dawdle long because we wanted to get inside. I fished the keys out of my backpack and we opened the door. No easy feat. Even though the backdoor is very protected and is on the west side of the house, away from direct hurricane winds, it was difficult to get open. It had swollen and took a mighty shove to get it open. Although it appeared that nothing was broken or damaged, the house was still a mess.





The winds had forced water around the sides of the plywood protecting the front door and windows and the floors were a dirty mess. Everything was covered with a sticky, slippery salty residue from the ocean spray that made its’ way in. Although there was no water to be seen, we could see the marks on the floor where it had spread. I was sure glad we had not been there. I would have freaked out uncontrollably had I seen water coming into the house. I would have been sure that the sea had risen right to our doorstep and was about to fill the house and drown us! I later learned that it had not even crossed the road in front of our house so there was no danger of drowning. It was just all the spray that blew in around the windows that caused the puddling on the floor. But locked up in the house, with no windows to look out of, I would not have known that. And no way I could stick my head out to take a quick peek at the ocean. That is what I worry about most…the sea rising up and covering us.





During Gilbert in 1988, a Cat 5 storm, the waves did crash as far up as the hill behind us. Scary stuff.We lit all the candles we could find, since there was no electricity, and grabbed more flashlights. I got the power battery drill out and we set about taking down some of the plywood so we could get some fresh air in the house. The smell inside was incredible. That done, we decided that there was not much more we could do tonight as far as clean up goes. We took the furniture off the beds where it had been placed to get it away from any water, made them up and collapsed. Finally, safely home in our own beds. Even though we knew we had some hard work ahead, we were just so thankful to be safely home and that we had not suffered much damage. I don’t think I even dreamt that night. I just fell into a heavy sleep and was glad for it. I had not slept well at all while we were away.

Wilma 10

The two staff on board eagerly answered our multitude of questions. The first thing they told us was that nobody had died and that there were no serious injuries. That was good news indeed! They did not know too much about damage at this point. I’m sure they were happy to be alive and working again already. They did tell us that there was still a lot of water and sand everywhere. And worse, a 7pm curfew! This concerned us since it was now 7:10pm!

It was a totally weird crossing, to say the least. Normally we can look out the windows and see the island approaching. Not now. It was total blackness everywhere we looked. Not a flicker of light coming from the island. As we approached the dock, workers came out and lined up along it with flashlights to guide the boat in. Once docked, the door swung open, leaving us on our own to discover what we may.

We made our way across the now crazy jumble that used to be a nice dock. We had to be careful not to step in any holes created by missing boards. We made it to the end of the dock but something was very different. Instead of reaching the street, we were standing on a beach! The sand was everywhere and it was deep. We could see lights coming from the grocery store on the town square and we headed for them. We were walking on about four feet of sand covering the streets as we made our way towards the center of town. As we approached the lights, we had to pass by the police station. It seemed the whole town force was standing outside the building.

They were in formation and having some kind of meeting. We stood around by them, hoping that they would approach us or that there would be a break so we could ask them what we should do. There were no cars anywhere, no bus, no motor scooters and no taxis. The island appeared to be deserted. Finally one guy broke away and came over to talk to us. The first thing he told us was that there was a curfew and we should not be on the street. We just stood there with our backpacks on, looking tired and stressed. What did he think? That we were there to loot the already empty grocery store? We explained briefly what we had gone through to get back to the island and that we just wanted to get home. Was it safe to walk? He told us that it was not. Too much debris and water everywhere. He told us that we could either go back to the street and wait for somebody or something to come by, or we could wait for the meeting to be over and somebody from the force would give us a ride home. Alright then, back to the street, which was really just a pile of sand.

Miraculously, we did not have long to wait. We saw headlights weaving their way down the street towards us. As it got closer, we saw that it was a telephone truck. Not the big ones, the really, really small cargo van that held a driver, passenger and some equipment in a windowless back. They stopped and asked us if we needed a ride. We gladly accepted and threw our backpacks in the back and crawled in after them. There were no windows in the back so we had to try to lean over the front seat to see out. We were anxious and curious as to what we could see.

It was just so black everywhere. We could make out the shapes of buildings and the utility poles here had not fared any better than those on the mainland. They were scattered everywhere with lines twisted and heaped all over. What really impressed us in the dark was the sand and water everywhere. We saw some walls missing from houses and piles of blocks strewn about. But the power lines! They were lying everywhere and twisted around everything. Occasionally a power box would be lying on the road, smashed to pieces. The driver picked his way around all of the debris and actually made his own road across open lots when the road was impassable.

As we passed our friend P's house, we tried to get a glimpse of it out of the tiny window. Her house is situated a long way back from the main road and with it being total blackness, it was impossible to make it out. From what I could see it did look different, I just couldn’t figure out why.

And then, two blocks later, there it was. Our house! It was still standing and as we crawled out of the back of the truck, we could not see anything that looked like major damage. What a relief! It looked like we and our house had all made it through safely! What a miracle.

Wilma 09

The light was fading from this stressful day as we made our way ever closer to Cancun. As one heads north from the coastal road into Cancun, there is a junction with another major road that actually goes into downtown Cancun or the ferry. Anybody who has ever been to the island has traveled on it. Most likely by taxi from the airport.

As we reached this intersection, we were shocked. Nothing we had seen so far had prepared us for what we were now seeing in the dying light of the day. The devastation was massive. It looked like somebody had dropped a bomb. The once palm lined streets were now devoid of any vegetation. Not a piece of green to be seen anywhere. Traffic lights were lying in crumbled huddles on the streets. Almost every power and telephone line that we could see had been toppled. Some leaning precariously against homes and apartments buildings. Some lying across the road with the broken wires snapping in the wind or stretched across the road just at windshield level, ready to catch an unsuspecting victim. Windows were gone and broken glass was everywhere. Pools of water filled the roadsides and, at times, the road itself. "Look at that! Look at that!" filled the car as we passed once familiar landmarks.

The worst was the huge shopping center, Plaza las Americas. The anchor stores at either end of it were the hardest hit. The one on the north end looked like it had just collapsed in upon itself. The one on the south end looked like the wind had gotten inside and ripped off the roof like an exploding can. We could not see it then, but it was easy to believe the stories we heard later of how the wind and rain had gotten inside the mall and ripped it to shreds.

It was now going on 6:30pm and totally dark. That made the going worse. Now I could not judge how deep the water on the road was and could only watch the bumper to bumper traffic in front of me. If they dipped into a pothole, I swerved. If not, I followed. L was in the passenger seat and it was his job to watch for fallen power lines and try to keep me from driving straight into them. No easy task in this crazy world of jumbled up wires. Some of them looked like a ball of yarn after a kitten has had its' way with it. We finally reached our turn that would take us to the ferry docks and our final leg home. All the time we had been discussing what we would do if the ferries were not running. The only solution we came up with was to sleep in the car for the night and do what we could the next morning. At that time, we had no idea of how dangerous Cancun had become and that sleeping in the car was tantamount to suicide.

We finally reached the first ferry to the island. The Ultramar, yellow and blue one. This is the one that most tourists take over to the island. There was not a sole around. The parking lot entrance was blocked and we could not drive in. L got out and ran up to the ticket window while B and I waited nervously in the car. The huge pieces of canvas that once covered the parking spaces were now just flapping in the wind. We could not see it in the dark, but the tower restaurant building had been blown apart from the inside. Huge pieces of it were missing, probably never to be seen again and now trapped somewhere in the nearby jungle brush. L returned after just a short time and said that he talked to a watchman and nothing was open and no ferry was running. He said he could not even see the island when he looked across!

Even though the going on this road was rough, we decided to head the mile further down the road to the older ferry service. It was like driving a dune buggy. There was so much sand on the road that there was no road to be seen. We just picked our way carefully along, guessing where the road was underneath us. All the time avoiding pieces of debris and tree limbs on the road. Once again there was no parking lot at all. Just a huge area of sand and no cars anywhere. I parked in the general area of where taxis usually wait for passengers. L once again went to see if he could find anybody. While he was gone, B and I were elated to see the lights of a ferry approaching from the island. Maybe we could get home tonight after all! Just about then L came running up to the car, threw the door open and told us to grab everything we could. This was the last ferry and we had five minutes to get on it. Not much time since I had to find a relatively safe place to leave the car overnight, open the trunk and grab our backpacks and the few things that we had bought while were gone...including some food and water. As we raced towards the dock, the guard was yelling at us to hurry or we would be left behind. It seems the only reason that the boat had ventured to the mainland was to bring a load of military guys over to help out in Cancun.

Safely loaded onto the boat, we were a little surprised to see that we were the only passengers. In retrospect, I guess not too surprising but we expected that there would be more returning island people trying to get a ferry. There were two staff members on board. They happily answered our questions. And we had a ton of them!

Wilma 08

We passed slowly by Puerto Moreles, taking in all of the damage and negotiating our way around fallen obstacles still on the road. Just past there we started to pick up some speed as the road had been cleared already of debris. We were amazed by the clean up crews already out working. This was only Monday and Wilma had just spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday hovering over them. Suddenly, B and L heard me exclaim "Shit!" as I came over a small hill and looked down and ahead of us. It was a repeat of what we had seen on the freeway. Cars lining the road everywhere. The hill was not high enough that we could see what was blocking the road and causing the stoppage, but we could guess. Water. And we were right.

We parked the car by the edge of the road and made our way to the front to have a look. It was water alright. Covering all four lanes and extending well into the ditches and jungle all around us. Where the water started, there was a fire truck parked. It had a large generator going and was pumping water off the road. Good going guys! But maybe you could spare another truck or two and really get this pumped off the road? Our side of the road, northbound to Cancun, was just a little bit lower than the south side. As a result, as they pumped water off the road, the south side flowed over and kept filling in our side, making the pumping process slow at best. The south bound side was getting lower and cars and trucks and especially buses were trying their luck at crossing. Most made it, some did not. People would get to the middle where it was deepest and stall out. They then had to open their doors, which flooded the interior even more, and try to push their cars the rest of the way. It was sad to watch. We watched this drama for two hours. The same thing was being repeated on our side of the road as people screwed up their courage and tried to cross. Buses and bigger trucks all made it. Smaller cars did not. One enterprising guy had a truck with a trailer for large machinery. He could lower it so that cars could drive onto it and he ferried them across. I have no idea how much he charged people but I would have paid almost anything to get a turn!

There was no where else to go. Even if we wanted to spend the night here and try to get through in the morning, there were no hotels to stay in. They had all been damaged to the point of not being able to take in guests. And we did not relish the thought of sleeping in the little Pointer. By this time, they had also brought in a front end grader and were making the ditch on our side of the road wider and deeper. Nice plan except for one thing. Our side of the road was lower than the southbound side. This meant that since water seeks its' own level, the water from the southbound side kept filling in any space that they dug. This was actually making our side deeper! The fire truck also kept pumping but we could see the level on the wheels was slowly getting higher, not lower as we needed.

As the sun was starting to go down we realized we had to make a choice. Either go back the way we came and try to find someplace to stay for the night or to chance the crossing. It was a terrible decision to have to make. Neither one was appealing and we didn't think we would be successful with either one either. Finally, we decided to go for it. We had seen cars similar to ours chance it and some of them actually made it.

We had to lighten our load. We didn't have much anyway, just our backpacks. We decided that I would be the one to tackle the water since I do most of the driving and know what to expect from the car. We took everything out of the trunk in case it filled with water and put it inside the car. I really thought that some water would come in through the doors but that it would not reach the top of the back seat. B and L were not going to cross with me. They were going to stay behind and try to catch a ride across with the next big truck that tried to make it.

Having carefully observed both the failed and successful crossings of others, I knew that I could not follow closely behind anybody. If they stalled, I was trapped and would stall out also. I could not cross at the same time as a southbound vehicle was trying to make the crossing either. The wash generated by these vehicles was literally washing smaller cars on our side away. The resulting wave caused by a car on the south side would just lift the car up and push it aside. Scary stuff. Not like driving through a blazing fire, but scary all the same. And knowing that if I stalled, we would have to try to push the car to the other side through deep water. And then try to dry it out and get it started. A daunting task to say the least.

Finally, with my heart racing faster than the engine, and the well wishes of B and L, I started to inch my way into the water. I few feet in and the water was already getting deeper. I had to remind myself to breathe. The car sputtered a few times but I kept playing the clutch and gas and kept it slowly moving forward. I was just over one third across when a truck from the southbound side decided to cross. As I approached the middle, point of no return part, the wave generated by this truck hit me. It washed up the side of the car and onto my window. From the front it hit the grill and up and over my windshield. I felt the force of it jerk me backwards. I felt like I was going to throw up, my nerves were just shattered. It was probably just plain luck and not my superb driving skills that saved me from stalling out. I kept going and reached the middle. At this point, if I had draped my arm out the window, my hand would have been underwater. It was deeper than the bottom of the door, almost to the door handle. Thankfully it only stayed this deep for about five feet and then started to drastically get shallower. The worst was over and I only had a few yards left to go. The car was sputtering terribly at this point but I somehow managed to keep it running. I arrived onto dry pavement amid cheers of the people who had also made it across, whether they had driven, been ferried or pushed after stalling. It was a great feeling. I pulled over to the side of the road in the first spot I could find. I had to wait for B and L to find a ride across. I kept the car running and occasionally had to gun the motor to keep it going.

I did not have long to wait. The next vehicle across was a pick up and it pulled over and out hopped B and L from the back! What luck that they had gotten a ride across so soon. I yelled for them to get in. We could arrange luggage later. I needed to get moving to try to dry the engine out. As we pulled away and back onto the road, all of us were chattering at once and laughing like school kids. The relief of having made it across was just so tremendous. B said that he had almost not made it. They had had to step on the back bumper of the truck and over the tailgate. B had one foot on the bumper, one foot on the ground and one hand on the tailgate when the driver took off, almost spilling him backwards onto the road. He yelled and L grabbed him and pulled him up. All in all, an incredible experience.

So, feeling quite smug and secure, we headed north for Cancun, hoping that we would be able to get to the island yet tonight. We had no idea of what was ahead.