Monday, October 24, 2005

7:52am….if it were not for my computer, I would have completely lost track of what day it is. I keep up with the day and time by the settings on this laptop. I think we’ve been in this shelter for 5 days now. People are beginning to form little colonies, or groups around them. We have our little “family” here around us, made up of 3 young newlywed couples, and Gloria and myself. She and I are the entertainment and advisors. The “elders” of the tribe, so to speak. Then there are the friends we have made from other “tribes”. There’s the gay couple, Toby and Bryan, who keep us laughing in tears, the “old fart society”, a small band of co-company owners/workers that stick together out in the lobby, and the scattered employee of the resort who we bump into and chat with, in their broken English. There are also the few that have wanted their presence to be made known since the day we came in here. This morning Gloria is sick. She woke up with a migraine and didn’t get any sleep last night through all the snoring and the stench of this place. Tonight we’ll try the headphones on the computer and music, and see if that helps her. People have completely given up on most of their dignity and are walking around in just towels or their underwear. An old man just walked past Gloria and I with nothing on but boxers…..unbuttoned, no less. It was pretty gross. Outside it is very pretty. There is almost no breeze now, and I’m afraid it will get very hot today when the sun comes completely out. It was cool last night and they left the doors all open. The breeze and cool air was a much welcomed relief to the heat and humidity we’ve had here over the past few days. Today will get hot and I’m afraid it will begin to smell of BO in here again, as it did a couple of days ago.

I heard in the breakfast line this morning that we finally got out with the satellite phone last night around 11:30pm. Gloria was up when this happened and added her name to a list of people needing to make a call out. Hopefully this is a sign of things getting better and I’ll have internet connection again soon.

9:20am….. we just got an announcement that showers will be available beginning at 10am until 4pm. People are already lining up. They are also going to pull the suitcases from the trailers and let us start looking for ours so we can get access to items that we need over the next few days. People are getting more and more irritable and tempers are flaring. We don’t know anything about the status of the airport or when they will reopen. I am tired of this place and am trying very hard to keep my sense of humor through it. I think I can keep people around me in a better mood with my light sense of character if I can just keep it together. I’d rather be laughing and joking with people than pissed off and adding to the frustration.

12:50pm….Two of the men in our little group took off a little while ago to try and get to Tulum and make phone calls. They returned after 3 hours and brought with them news that they had contacted Gloria’s sister and were told that Damon had rebooked our flights out of here for Wedneday at 5pm. Gloria is chewing at the bit, wanting to get out of here. She’s willing to take a trip to the Cancun airport tomorrow without knowing if they are open. She heard another couple claim to have a flight reservation tomorrow at 1pm to Atlanta and now she believes we can get out of here earlier than the flight Damon made for us. Several of the group around us are contemplating leaving and going to an airport south of here and attempting to get a flight to the Mexico City airport where they will try to get another flight to the states. I am telling everyone to stay put until they are booked on a guaranteed flight out of Cancun. It is safe, secure, and semi-comfortable here. We have food and showers now. It’s best to stay put. But with each group that is called to join up with other guest flying with the same travel agent or airline, people are getting more and more antsy. People are beginning to talk about leaving for anywhere they can go. A fight is about to break out between two men discussing the fact that the US will not come in and get it’s people, when the UK, Canada, and other countries are gathering up their citizens and getting them out of here. The older gentleman tells the younger one that if the US will not rescue the people in New Orleans, they sure as hell are not going to come get us in Mexico. The younger guy gets irate, because he’s from New Orleans.

The important thing is, our families should know now that we’re doing okay. Justin, who made the phone call, spoke to Gloria’s sister, who is going to let everyone know we’re okay.

10:00pm…Earlier this afternoon after finding out we had a flight on Wednesday, Gloria decided we should go up the road to the next town, Plaza Del Carma, and use the phones to try and reach Delta to 1) verify the airport was open, 2) try and get a flight out tomorrow instead. Gloria is completely over having to sleep in this shelter, and is ready to go as soon as she can find a way to get out. We met up with another couple and decided to ride with them and share the cab fare since the woman spoke fluid Spanish. So when we got to the little town, the cab driver took us to a place where he said we could buy calling cards…every phone call around here is made with a calling card. There are little phone stations where people pay to make calls, or they purchase these cards to call out at pay phones. We were unable to purchase cards that would reach the US, and the station operator would not let us make an “800” phone call, so Gloria called our friend, Randy collect and after telling him how badly she wanted to come home, gave him my brother’s phone number at work. Our hope was that he would be able to tell Randy what flights were going in and out of Cancun and if, in fact, the airport would be open on Wednesday. She told him that she would call him again soon. Rather than wait in line again and try to contact Randy using one of only three phone booths at this station, we decided to drive north and attempt to pick up a signal on my cellular two way Nextel radio. We had to take a second cab driver, as the first one’s shift ended. So off we went up the highway. After about 15 miles, the traffic came to a complete stop. Cars were stalled all along the road and people were walking out of their cars and toward something we could not see. We moved slowly through the traffic, not knowing what the hold up was until we came to a clearing. The road was flooded. Cars and trucks were trying to make their way through the water, most of them stalling out. Our driver was convinced he could make it….he would have to make it, since there was no turn around to put us back into the southbound traffic toward the shelter. We slowly made our way through the water and although the car choked and stalled, we were able to make it. When we got down the road a way, we found a place to turn around and headed back toward the resort, now official turned shelter. However, we were now facing the flooded road on the other side. We slowly made our way into the water behind two trucks. The wakes coming off of the vehicles in the northbound traffic caused us to rock and float sideways while the wheels spun helplessly in the water. The engine coughed and sputtered, trying to get air into it, and once we were through the deep water, the car stalled and quit. Water was up to the seats inside the car and our feet were knee deep in water. We opened the doors, and water poured out. We grabbed cups and started bailing water out while the driver attempted to restart the engine. Gloria, and I and the other couple got behind the car and pushed while the driver tried to pop the clutch and get it started. At precisely 6:20pm, I told the group, “I don’t want to rain on this parade, however, I think it’s going to rain.” We all looked up and a large BLACK cloud was over our heads. As we pondered the situation, the rain began to fall. Gloria’s hair looked like shit. After multiple attempts to start the stinking, flooded, rusted out, beat up piece of shit car, we had no choice but to abandon our driver and grab a miracle cab that happened to be headed north on the other side of the highway. This cab driver made a turn around in the road, and came north on the southbound traffic side to get us. God was watching after us, without any doubt. We finally made the trip back to “Wilma’s Flophouse”, aka, the shelter at 7:30. Everyone that knows us here had to hear the story. And now, at 10:35, there is some sort of party taking place out front and we’re going to take a couple of pics of the old folks “cutting a rug”.