So we survived the hurricane only to be dumped into the desert near a blown out Best Western and leveled Airport to become part of a poorly orchestrated emergency military evacuation of 11,000 tourists. This is Miki and me on the bus ride there - thrilled to be on our way to the rescue site...our first day off the resort since the hurricane!...lol. We had essentially been cut off from the world since 9/15 - limited Wifi, Cell Service,TV...no ATMs, no AC, etc...making the best of it on one of the few resorts who had limited electricity/water via generators...often eating recycled food and drinking tainted water...while the rest of the island suffered, looted and pillaged for food/water. It was a life-changing experience to watch and help with the clean-up transformation of our resort...often creating our own entertainment with cocktails and balloon animals and glitter powder and Mikis mellifluous Latino singing and more cocktails...as we shut out the sound of sirens and ignored the fires outside the security protected gates of our resort....so tragic. I will be writing letters to both the American and Mexican Consulates. The daily communication and information relayed was alarmingly scarce and inaccurate...news coverage barely conveyed the true devastation and urgency of basic needs. Little did we know, the worse was yet to come with the evacuation efforts, in a mile long refugee type line for 8 hours in the hot sun with minimal food and water...no bathrooms - people peeing behind tumble weeds...dragging our luggage through gravel roads, dirt and sand hills - some wearing dresses and heels - all of us completely unaware of the plight ahead of us. There were families with babies and young children, and several elderly...many with medical conditions and special needs...people desperate to jump the line. So the Mexican military/police had to walk the line and monitor us with guns over their shoulder to minimize upheavals. They finally started passing out bottled water (while filming themselves doing it), but it was too late for some. People were dropping like flies from heat stroke, heart conditions and blood pressure issues...I felt faint and nearly blacked out twice. The caring survival mode of some was astounding to watch and be part of. We finally reached the front of the line that spidered out into several mini-lines to random planes (C130s and commercial jets) taking us to various unknown destinations...some were offering charter flights for $600 that never showed up. We lucked-out on a Virgin Airline flight that treated us like royalty in spite of our stench, and philthy-famished-fatigued appearance! They passed out mini snack boxes and water while manually creating a passenger manifest and checked each of our passports and luggage one at a time. We cried and cheered at finally being able to leave the island...I put glitter powder on all those around me to celebrate our rescue...theres no reason we cant sparkle and shine even in a crisis!...lol Although many did not make it out that day after standing so long in the hot sun, and our plane was one of the last two that flew out. There was no air control tower nor run way lights, so all flights had to be done before dark. I heard that those left behind were shuttled back to the resort and made it out the next morning. Blessings to all of those who stepped-up and went beyond the call of duty in so many different ways to help each other and get us off the island. One man, that I know of, died in the line that day, and at least a half dozen other fatalities occurred during the storm....maybe more. There is still much devastation, homelessness, starvation and heart-wrenching affliction going on there. Im so glad to be home and so grateful to be alive. God is so good...please continue to pray for Cabo and all those who have suffered greatly. Thank you for those who kept us in their prayers. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain. =)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 23:08:25 +0000
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