Dealing with the Aftermath of Hurricane Odile

The heat and humidity is so bad that I find myself dreaming of a windy, rainy, gray day in the Pacific Northwest as a happy thing. Who woulda thunk it? It’s been in the upper 80s and lower 90s with 78% plus humidity for months. No relief. It doesn’t do any good to take a shower when you come out as wet as you were a mere two minutes after you dry off.

After the hurricane, the bugs exploded in numbers unimaginable. Unless you’ve experienced this you can’t appreciate how bad it is. Picture yourself dripping with sweat and a black cloud of bugs swarming your entire body. When we attempt to work in the yard (it really needs work), before much of anything gets accomplished, we surrender and run to the house to get under a fan. You may find it inappropriate for an English teacher to say, but IT SUCKS.

We drove our little Polaris Ranger to San Pedrito Point to check its condition and see if there was any surf. What a sad sight. The entire beach is littered with debris—some of it organic, some plastic, or other litter. The tide was high and pushed up close to the houses nestled there. We had to pick our way through the decaying trees and cactus that came down the arroyos along with lots of rubbish. It covers the beach. You see very little sand. It’s not a pretty sight like it was pre-hurricane, that’s for sure. I didn’t have my camera with me today, or I would include a picture. A picture is worth more than a thousand words in this case.

A few days after the tormenta changed our landscapes, I took pictures of the Los Cerritos beach where my husband usually surfs. I’ll include some of those. I’m guessing it will be a least a year before it gets even close to a normal beach scene. I haven’t heard any rumblings about the local government coming in to remove the debris and cart it off somewhere out of sight. If we were in the USA you can bet it would be taken care of. The area was hit so hard though. The people who used to have shelter are still the main concern. Power is being restored with a massive effort from all over Mainland Mexico. CFE (power company) trucks from as far away as Chiapas have come to the aid of Baja. The numbers of trucks and men working is an awe-inspiring sight for all of us who are here. Poco a poco—little by little—people work to get back to some normalcy.

The beach in front of our own house is the prettiest one around. It has lots of organic matter too, but right in front of us there are places that resemble pre-hurricane days. No surf though, as it is still a beach break. Sometimes we can get in a quick swim. The water must be 80 degrees, so it isn’t as refreshing as it could be, but hey! I’m not complaining. It’s the only place that doesn’t look polluted right now. I suppose looks can be deceiving, so we shower and rub our skin with towels after a dip. You never know.

We staked up all our trees and righted the things that were down. Some made it. Others didn’t. Our passion fruit vines will come back, (I hope) and we have a chance to prune them if the bugs would only cooperate and go somewhere else for an hour or two. We get a little cranky trying to work in the heat with bugs galore. A little cranky? Probably more like a lot cranky!!!

What we wouldn’t give for a day in the 70s with a nice, light ocean breeze, lazing in one of our hammock chairs under the little palapa on the upper deck. Ah, and topped off with a glass of limonada con hielo. (iced lemonade). Now wouldn’t that be a little piece of heaven?

My upstairs deck!

Limonada…just what the doctor ordered!