Our phone in the hotel room rings...way too early. It was my dad, inquiring about where we were going to go when the hurricaine arrives. I dont remember much of the conversation because I was still half asleep (plus it was 8 years ago) I went back to sleep until 7 AM and immediately go to our balcony sliding glass door. I see the waves crashing hard on the beach and hear the wind howling through the tiny cracks between the door and wall.
Then I turn around and see someone has slipped the official "Evacuate" letter under our door.
I do some freaking out for a bit...then go back to sleep.
Finally we both wake up at 10 AM and watch the news on TV about the hurricane named Wilma, that's headed our way.
{makes me think of The Little Mermaid where Prince Eric's shipmate yells...."the hurricane's a-coming!"}HA!
Shower and get dressed. The hotel was evacuating people by floors, starting with the top 9th floor and on down. Since we were on the 5th floor, we were to meet in the Lobby promptly at 1 PM.
Our hotel shuttle was scheduled to leave at 1:10
I am all packed with the "essentials" that I would need while being stashed away inland.
It's time to gather our bags, 1 per person, and pillows and blankets and head down to the Lobby.
Each group had an assigned Hotel personnel, that highlighted our names to make sure we showed up.
They packed us on the shuttle like sardines. It was flippin' crowded, with everyones luggage, pillows and blankets. When it was time to leave the parking lot, the shuttle comes to a jerking halt.
Turned out there was a bad battery and have to unload and reload back onto another shuttle.
This shuttle was smaller than the first one. There was no room for the guests luggage, so we all had to hold our bags on our lap, as we took an hour long ride through the ghetto part of Cancun.
I am looking out the window and see graffiti on buildings, trash on the streets, people riding bikes, road raging drivers honking their horns as if it will make traffic go any faster, and sad little skinny dogs just lying on the ground.
{cue Sarah McLaughlin's...'In the Arms of the Angel'} haha I cant stand that commercial! It is too sad, I have to turn the channel when it comes on.
I come to the realization of how blessed I am, and that I live in America. {USA, USA, USA!} :)
Homes have bars on their windows and car's are fenced in their yards.
Finally we arrive at the Elementary school. What a sigh of relief! Or was it?
This is so NOT what I imagined it would look like.
There is 2 rows of classrooms on both sides of the property.
Each classroom was assigned 25 hotel guests. The hotel staff had gathered the cushions from the pool lounge chairs and had them all laid out on the floor of the classroom.
We pick a spot in the far corner. I set my bag down and feel completely overwhelmed.
By the looks of things, this sure didn't FEEL like a Honeymoon.
We were supposed to be pampered at the Hilton on our honeymoon, and not have to stay in an under privileged grade school in the ghetto, sharing a room with 25 other people!
 |
| Chris (blue shirt) and I (brown t-shirt) are in the far corner. I am busy typing my experience on his laptop while we still had battery power. |
Chris and I walk down the sidewalk and a few rooms down to see the bathroom facilities to use when we weren't locked in the classroom.
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| This was the "bathroom" we were to use, while hurricane Wilma was present, and we were all locked in the classroom. Yes, that IS a bucket with kitty litter in it, for the ladies. And the men, were to use the 5 gallon water jug. |
Later, as I sat there on the sidewalk outside our "room" next to Chris, I hear hotel staff nailing up boards on the wooden slatted room windows. {I never travel without ear plugs, and they certainly came in handy!} :)
Now we wait.
I am praying that this hurricane passes quickly so we can get on with our honeymoon at the posh Hilton.
There are guests in the school courtyard throwing a football around, and people talking.
Finally it is time to eat. I had never seen a line form so fast! And man, was it a loooong line.
The food was great. The Hilton planned ahead and brought plenty of food (for now).
Menu: salad with ranch dressing, 2 pieces of french bread, vegetable soup, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, fettuccine alfredo, BBQ chicken and steamed veggies. We had water and soda in our rooms.
{I think they wanted us to gorge ourselves... so we could all live off those numerous calories that we a;; just consumed for the next day or so.}
After we finished eating, I walked to the outside bathroom to change into my night clothes, brush my teeth and take out my contacts.
Our Hotel appointed hosts name was Olga. She was a sweetheart and very informative. If you know me, I tend to ask A LOT of questions.
I loved her cute accent and broken English at times.
She told us after every staff meeting she has, she will let us all know what is going on. Which is a huge help in calming my nerves.
There was an older couple camped out next to us, probably in their mid 70s. Chester and Heddy.
Chester told us that it was their 30th time coming to Cancun and this is the first time they had any bad weather.
Most of the people in our room were nice. Another couple in our room was Jen and Tim. We clicked right away. They were both total sweethearts! :) It was good to have nice people in our room, to help the situation go faster.
It was HOT in that room, but at least there had 4 ceiling fans. No central AC here folks, that's fo' sho. :)
Friday October 21st 2005*
It was a rough night. I didnt get much sleep at all. About 7 AM I heard our roommates starting to stir.
8:00 rolled around and I went for my first of many outside bathroom trips. A lot of us ladies would use the outside restroom as much as we could, to avoid using the kitty litter bucket.
9 AM breakfast time. Assorted pastry's and cookies brought into our room along with tea, orange juice, coffee and some nasty tasting milk.
11 AM they delivered hoagie sandwiches to our room, as if we really need to eat anymore. At this point I am wondering if I should really 'tank up' on all of this food or not. {all of us guests are going to need to empty our bowels sometime soon!}
We overhear that our last allowed outside bathroom break will be at 11:30. So, a few ladies and I make a quick trip to the bathroom.
It is almost noon, and we have been without electricity for 3 hours. It is hot in here, and I had a feeling that the door was about to be shut.
I was right, they shut and locked the door, with all 25 of us guests in the classroom.
During the hurricaine, it sounded like a freight train, very windy and loads of rain.
They told us the winds got up to 150 mph.
There were lots of things that kept banging into our boarded windows, and at some point we lost 2 boards on the east side of the shelter. Our host then made a family of 4 from Maryland move away from the potentially dangerous area.
We all shuffeled our belongings and ourselves to make room for them.
Under the windows where Chris and I stayed there was rain blowing in. It was so stuffy and hot in the room, I couldnt sleep at all.
We remained locked in the room until 4 AM, when we heard a quick knock at our door
saying, "5 minutes!!" Meaning, we had 5 minutes to go outside get some fresh air, and/or light one up and blow some smoke. :)
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