Chetumal - Hurricane Time

Ola amigos ..

So, we thought all was safe and well in Chetumal, but it sure wasn´t. People sleeping in the bus station, franticly trying to get out of there, everybody getting ready for the hurricane that was heading exactly this way.
We arrived at our hostel at 04:30, and were met by people still up, unable to sleep. Two ( very nervous) americans, a (confused) german, a (happy) canadian and an (pleasant) englishman, the hostess, Lilia (very friendly), Kevin the (crazy and horny) dog and us two danish (looking for trouble). Especially the americans couldn´t understand why we came to the hurricane center, though we tried to explain.

After some initial talk, we decided to go for a last swim in the Atlantic ocean, which was calm although one could barely see the hurricane in the distance. Rest of the day went with getting to know the other guys, a trip to the supermarked and Belize for alcohol, as the Mexican goverment prohibited sale of alcohol during the hurricane. Once that was done, we started on the preparations inside and outside the house, boarding up windows and moving all furniture and other stuff that could fly away.

During the day, we kept on getting mixed news of where it was heading, what strenght we should get ready for, when the city will lose electricity and for how many days we could expect to be shut in.

Hurricane Dean supplies 07:
100 beers, some baileys and 2 bottles of wine
bread, cheese, beans, big bolsa of dorritos, soda, jalapeños, tuna, mayo, batteries

Next time:
Much more bread, more cheese, more beer, pre-cooked rice (a lot), more icecubes, battery-powered radio, guitar

We started drinking, checking out the neighbourhood and getting nervous. The storm hit us much later than expected, and by that time most of us were in bed, sleeping it off. We lost our power in deep night, and as far as we are concerned, most of the storm was loud banging of the front gates. The house got a little flooded, but nothing compared to what some sceptical tounges were calculating with.

In the morning we went out to scout the damages, and it seemed that our street was pretty ok. In the city in general, the electricity cables were torn down, broken trees everywhere and some of the wooden structures had collapsed. The most annoying thing for us was that all stores were closed, the open ones had only candy and chips, no electricity and the goverment ordered a curfew on the city to prevent looting. We spend this day portioning up our food, playing cards, talking bullocks and drinking the remains of the alcohol (Hurricane Survivors Party 07). The bus station was closed due to broken windows etc., so we were basically stuck in the humidity, rationing even our bathing water.

In this manner, we spent 36 hours without electricity, with other backpackers in the Chetumal Hostel.
The next day we scrambled for the ADO station and luckily got a ticket out to Mérida. Right when we packed our stuff and went out of the door, the power returned. We are allright, and nobody in Chetumal died, so for a category 5 hurricane, the experience was ok pleasant.

Next on Gringo Tour: Mérida

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