Merida Hurricane Update: Dawn Tuesday
We woke to some gusts of wind and a light rain. The clouds in the sky are still moving quickly, but the winds are mild so far. When we woke up the rain was just sprinkling... now it's a steady rain that is more than we want to walk around in, so the dogs have gone back to sleep.
We've been watching BBC and CNN broadcasting from Cancun and Puerto Aventuras. The local standup guy in Puerto Aventuras was making as much as he could out of the conditions, but they looked pretty ho-hum to us... no more than a normal tropical storm with 15-foot waves, he claims. Looked more like 5 feet to us (but we're from California, where they have real waves). We're sure things are different down in Chetumal, but for some reason they chose not to go all the way down there. Hmmm...
Once it gets lighter out, maybe we'll drive around and see if there's anything worth taking a photo to show everyone.
Comments
carolyn 17 years ago
sry forgot to check the contact box
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carolyn 17 years ago
Have been getting the nerve up to move to mexico and it does my heart good to see how concerned people are about each other. Both me and my sister are retired military n cannot seem to make it on our income in the states so we r trying real hard to get up our courage to make this move. With our friend who is continuously praising mexico maybe we will make this move with her help. Best to all carolyn and marilyn
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Dan and Kathy 17 years ago
Thank you all for your information and comments. We vacationed in Uaymitun last Febraury/March and will be back in '08. We were very concerned regarding the effects of Dean. A mutual friend/New York/Chicxulub homeowner lead me to this sight. Again, thank you.
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Carlos Daniel Gallegos 17 years ago
3 cheers for Benita! I too give much thanks to Working Gringos for their reports from Merida. As their readers know. I am from and in Texas. My wife, whom I call Working Yucateca, is lives and works in Merida. I think that I have a little closer connection to Merida than most. :-) Yucatan Living is one of the best web sites on Merida and the Yucatan. I promote it as much as possible. I have shared with Working Gringos many stories about me and Ariadna. I'm happy everyone made it safely in Merida. My heart felt greetings to all of you.
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michele 17 years ago
enjoying your articles and planning a 25th anniversary return to the Yucatan, this time to really SEE Merida and Uxmal. Enjoy your site and especially turned to you for hurricane information. Mas adelante, I will be doing more research for our trip in January and will certainly be reading more, meanwhile, your regular emails remind of this trip soon
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Joanne 17 years ago
It is great to hear the cities were spared. As a tourista who was in Cancun in Roxanne some years ago it was amasing to see how quickly the city put the tourist area back together. I have to say it wasn't the same for the Mayan fishing villages. We were on our 25th anniversary and went touring after the storm and were in awe of the destruction in the countryside. It was rewarding when we went to the main grocery store in Canncunand bought several carts of food and went back to that village and handed it out!! Any help that can be given is appreciated. We have been back with gifts since then. Our prayers have been with all during this storm.
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CasiYucateco 17 years ago
Friends who have relatives in Chetumal (very near Balacar) report the power is still out for many people there. I imagine that landlines (wired telephone service) is down too. The two houses of relatives in Chetumal did not actually experience damage at all (cement houses) but travel is a little difficult due to downed trees, light posts, power lines, etc. Clean up is moving along.
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Concerned Friend 17 years ago
I'd like to add my thanks for your postings, which are so much more informative than what the mainstream media is providing.
I'm very concerned about friends in Bacalar (Rancho Encantado) and have been unsuccessful in making contact or learning definitively about the conditions there - other than knowing they were in the direct path of the storm. Any information you could provide about the area would be most sincerely appreciated. Thank you.
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Gatita 17 years ago
Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. I spent several years working in Merida and have a great many friends there for whom I was very concerned (one in particular who just gave birth to her third son). Your report of the conditions in Merida and the video has made me feel much better.
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KILBOURNE 17 years ago
Thanks for the updates and commentary everybody. Feeling rather helpless and useless, I have been tracking this storm (from Los Angeles, California) via the hurricane-tracking websites I got through your articles, and from Lorena at Ecoyuc Tours in Merida - I too preferred not to rely on mainstream sensationalist media for my info - first, I'm glad to see that the Yucatan peninsula weathered this monster so well - I get the impression that a) advance notice on storms like this gets better all the time, and b) that everybody from Cancun all the way up to the U.S. gulf coast learned a great deal from past experience and c) as a result, everybody seemed to be very well prepared to deal with whatever Dean had to dish out. Best wishes to everybody, and I, too, am ready to lend a couple of hands if need be when I'm down there in December. Perhaps an update or two on help needed after hurricane season is behind us would be instructive.
K
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Cynthia 17 years ago
Glad you guys are okay and that beautiful Merida was spared a hard hit by Dean.
I want to comment on your original post. In my coastal town, I have watched reporters lean as if the wind wouldn't allow them to stand knowing that we were only experiencing an occasional strong gust.
I returned home after evacuating for Rita to find a few small tree limbs in my yard and driveway. I expected much worse after watching our news reporters recap Rita's action in our area. Rita wiped out areas east of us, but those assigned to the Galveston Bay area had little to report and therefore, created a little drama.
I have met you and know that you are wonderful people who would never make light of something serious. Even without meeting you, reading your blog entry, I would have totally understood the message.
Again, glad all is well there. I am in San Miguel de Allende waiting for what is left of Dean to appear. Since I speak little Spanish, I have no idea what we are in store for, though I assume we will be limited to a major rain event and perhaps some gusty winds.
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