Hell’s Half Acre

I had hoped Jamie would head over and confront the folks in the black pickup but he just sat on the curb watching them. I finally figured out an excuse to head over after the truck flashed its headlights at a security car. We walked over and I had Jamie ask if they needed any help. They turned out to be a very embarrassed couple who left Very Soon Afterwards. We were much relieved that we weren’t going to be robbed again and decided to move the trailer to the more protected spot I’d scoped out earlier. It was pitch black and occasionally raining but we snugged the trailer in and settled down with the generator for the night. About 3:45 Jamie, myself and Pike sat up straight in bed WIDE AWAKE. We were getting hammered with rain and really good gusts of wind. The gusting and heavy rain would peter out, we’d check the ground for flooding, decide to keep the generator running (the fans providing only only escape from the heat dependent on the generator) and try to doze. This pattern repeated until well after dawn when the rain generator ran out of gas.

The police and miltary presence in Cancun was amazing. We had a family in a car advise us (when we were parked in the first location) that we were too exposed and military stopped by to check on us. All night the police were patrolling, the white, blue and red lights bouncing all around the trailer but sirens were kept to a minimum. We spent the day outside the trailer (where it was cooler, with wind and gusts) in the parking lot waiting for the gusts to die down. Finally, after more consumption at Costco we headed home. We purchased some treats for the guards and the kids loved passing them out, it took me only about 30 minutes to stick the trailer in the palapa and we’re still marveling at what the sea brought to our beach.

Tomorrow we head down to Calderitas, on Chetumal’s bay, to help a friend clear her property which was damaged in the hurricane. We’ve culled our clothing and toys for donations and will probably drive donations down in the next few days. Depending on the contacts I make down there we might start to accept Paypal donations if anyone wants to donate, but I’d first rather see what is needed. We got electricity and water back yesterday afternoon and life is good.

UPDATE:

local Red Cross reports from today (Chetumal RC is too busy with Chetumal itself)

items needed are

CLOTHING, CANDLES, MATCHES, WATER, FOOD, BLANKETS, HAMMOCKS, GENERATORS, FUEL, utilitarian clothing, non perishable food, candles, flashlights, roofing material, plastic tarps, tents, etc.

Obviously it would difficult if not impossible to send that down here. If you want to paypal with money earmarked for specific items put that in the paypal info. You can paypal funded (non credit card) to dulce@support.net You can paypal credit card to jamnkats@smarteryp.com You are also welcome to snail mail checks to my sister who will deposit them and transfer to my account, email me for info. I’ll put a spreadsheet together with amounts donated (I’ll use initials instead of names) and materials purchased and post it here.

Thanks for any help you can offer.