We had dinner here the night Hillary was hitting the coast. As we left for our 7 week trip, they put the storm shutters down. Two days after this picture was taken we were in South Dakota.Wine, beer and highballs were plentiful in Canada, but not margaritas.
We arrived back in los Barilles after a truly wonderful trip through Canada … and some great visits with friends in the states as well. Because of the early arrival of a hurricane just as we were leaving, we had tossed everything in the house and shut her up over the course of a couple of days rather than the organized week we had planned. While it ended up being just a tropical storm pulling wet sandy furniture into the house is a poor idea (unless you like black mold).
So when we arrived home, it was all intact, but not very organized. We quickly got those shutters off, the fans back on the pergola, and all the furniture etc. out into the yard. We wanted it to look beautiful for our soon to arrive guests in a few days.
I love two for ones when they just put it all in one glass. No guilt about drinking two drinks.
We were enjoying catching up with our friends, Ken and Joan when very sadly, we noticed the approach of a hurricane. We tried our best to ignore it, but when one of the forecasts said a possible category four hurricane we sprung into action. We had envisioned snorkeling at Cabo Pulmo, but instead our friends helped re-shutter, re-pack, and take those fans down. We felt bad that they were trapped but glad they made us spaghetti sauce and bought fried chicken to enjoy as we listened to the palm fronds smacking into the house. They were incredibly good sports, even as they mopped up and helped sandbag the doors.
NOAAC Seemed to have a hard time, making up their mind on what was going to happenThe day before the storm it looked pretty beautiful to usThe ocean started getting wild a couple days before the storm….
I lived in South Florida, and it was very different, watching people stock up with food and supplies before storms. People took what they needed here…a couple jugs of water, some canned goods, etc. In Florida they would often take every single paper towel. They loaded up their carts with every canned good they could find. I remember thinking it was bizarre. It was so nice to have people here calmly and kindly preparing.
The palm tree had to be scalped in preparation for the stormMy 5 feet tall jamaica took a beating… But it popped back up beautifully and I just harvested it for teaWe think this is as close as we’re going to get to a unicorn and the storm didn’t seem to bother him. White burros are unique… google it.
It was actually fun to watch the storm clouds roll in. Not fun to hear things bashing against the shutters, but so glad we had them up. And then walking out to the arroyos was startling. It looked like class four rapids one day, and a few days later the arroyos looked like small creeks. When we bought our home we worried about being here during a storm as we knew the flood filled arroyos (which our powerlines and water pipes must cross ) might be impossible to cross for several days. Actually, I have to say it was sort of exciting to watch people attempt to cross the river. One A TV did get washed away but we have heard there were no injuries and eventually the ATV was recovered. It was sad to find turtles and turtle eggs along the beach but again, amazing to see how fast everything was cleaned up…. By many people working very hard on hot humid days.
And we were thankful that the condominiums did just fine. We were so impressed that our renters at Mar y Sol were gracious and helpful and approached it as being an adventure. I am sure after a couple of days without power it did not feel quite as much like an adventure, but we do appreciate their patience.
But this was not so good. Yes we should have rolled up the rug. That’s water not a glossy finishStorm clouds, moving in, and boy did those clouds move fast!
A fast clean up was a good thing, because our friends from college arrived just a couple days after water was restored. A nice warm shower before that airport pick up was wonderful …. and I have to say a little bit nerve-racking, but all was good by the time they got here.
We found many of these little guys buried in the debris. We did our best to free them.Turtle eggsHere is the beach the day after the hurricaneHere is the same beach yesterdayThat is looking toward the storm moving to the mainland. Note the road damage and the exposed pipe. Doesn’t this look a pic you would take next to a park waterfall on vacation? It is good to have a pool when you do not have running water. Note the shutters are still on in the pic. We waited a bit this time! The sand roads had many mini canyons and drop offs, but trucks were everywhere dropping loads of roadbase and sand. Two weeks after the storm, they were still sweeping the sand into piles and wheelbarrowing that way. A bulldozer was used for some of the workThe plants get a lot of water and this banana in my planter shows this much growth in about two monthsNow we just need bananas!There were lots of poles down, and many more looking like they were about to go down. Even more disconcerting were the chunks of pipe, broken throughout the neighborhoods. Remember this was barely a hurricane.As soon as we could start driving over the arroyos it was time to make flowers for Dia de Los Muertes…. Hundreds and hundreds of flowers!And shortly after that, it was time to hand out candy on the street. Halloween has become increasingly more popular here.…and they had great costumes (or disguises). The devil made me do it! Fortunately, the very damaged road to the cemetery was repaired the DAY OF the Dia de los Martes parade… in the nick of time!And delayed gourmet birthday dinners were rescheduled…. Sooo worth waiting for! And all was ready for these wonderful women we met in 1978 in Memphis at SAM. So many great memories to share. So glad the hurricane didn’t stop them, but it kept the town a little quieter for them. And of course the seeds needed to be planted after 10 weeks of solarization….a slightly late start. ….and they are growing quickly! We already have tomatoes and lettuce. I took what I thought was a tight cover off the top of this bucket, and found this guy inside. It is a Lyre snake. Yes, I did jump.And this is what the rain does to the dessert!Well it took a bit of time, but the ocean healed itself and the waves (and the rivers in the mountains) brought us tons of new sand for our beaches. And a well deserved float after an unpack, pack, unpack series over the course of 2 weeks….no más!!!
Life's Been Good To Us So Far! 