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.