Postcards from the Edge

When I woke up this morning!

I haven't seen a sunrise or sunset of any consequence in a couple of days! Too many clouds and heavy downpours! Heavy squalls happen almost every hour with room to get the errands run in between. The current one has been dumping for the past half hour.

No one on the island seems too concerned. Current word is that Ida will be a tropical storm. My flight is due to leave at four in the afternoon tomorrow, so I highly doubt it will lift off since my last glance had the tropical storm hitting this area at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. And I really don't want to cross that water in a boat tomorrow, so I'm hoping the flight is cancelled so I can reschedule afterwards. I plan on spending one more night at the current location (Craig calls it ground zero where the seawall failed in Wilma) and moving to a less exposed location on an upper floor.

My current theory is that one must eat before the storm so they're not hungry when the storm hits. Any excuse for over-consumption will do! Last night I had the chicken enchiladas in green sauce at Sancochos chased down by half banana/half Almond Joy ice cream at Cool. This morning was a small bottle of O.J. combined with a BLT ciabatti sandwich at The Elements followed by a fried banana and papaya juice at Poc Chuc. The Poc Chuc stop was merely to get out of the latest downpour/squall. Cesar offered a safe room at The Elements if my flight is not leaving, and I think I might take him up on it. I would never want for wonderful food in the storm, and he has it hurricane proofed! I remember people stayed there in Wilma with no problems.

The rain and wind have blown so hard through my location right now up on this hill, it seems like the tropical storm arrived at least a day ago! You know how I said I love the rain? Well, I haven't experienced this much rain at once in years. I started looking for a poncho this morning and price gouging has started. 150 pesos for a small poncho. I don't think so. I went to the novelty shop catty-cornered from Mirtita's and found a raincoat -- very brightly covered -- for 40 pesos. It's not substantial and it won't close, but it will do the job!

I plan on going down to Ricardo's Fire Opal shop this afternoon with my seaglass and seeing if he can make some sort of necklace for me. He said he'd show me. Sounds like fun. My own little craft class on Isla! I can't quite believe he'll come on the ferry today, but he said he would!

I took some photos with my phone over on Playa Norte before this all started! And I found my upload cord when I was searching for a poncho in my bag! I'm sure I packed the damn thing, but it is not to be found.

And here are a couple of pics from people sandbagging several days ago at Nabalam. Unfortunately, I think it looks like they might be losing some sand again?




I'll post when I post. I'm in the Rocamar office right now on my laptop using a direct connection, so I hate to impose too much! All the staff here is so nice! And the hotel is lovely!