We decided
to talk to the guest services rep at our hotel to get the current infor-mation
on the size and direction of Wilma, THE Hurricane of the ‘05 season, which
established 5 different records since they started keeping them 150 years ago.
(1) The most
numbered/ named
(2) The one with the lowest barometric pressure
(3) The one with the highest wind speed
(4) The one which intensified the fastest, and which we didn’t find out
until after,
(5) The one who’s eye
decided to stop moving for the longest duration. Poor Cozumel.
- - - - - - - - -
They told us
to go into this concrete building, a big empty room about 150 feet long, 50
feet wide, with a ceiling at about 20 feet.
I asked if I could wait outside, and feel the wind and rain, but they
said no, because we would be put in groups and taken to our rooms. When I stepped over the 18” concrete block
wall that they had built to help keep the water out and stepped into the room,
I stopped. My blood pressure jumped from
it’s normal of about 150 over 100, to something like 175 over 110 instantly. There must have been at least
200 people in this room, with at least another 40 people behind me, waiting to
get in.
I asked
again, pleaded actually, for them to allow me to wait outside for my group to come out
for me. They didn’t physically force me
in, but one of them calmly said, "Don’t worry, the manager is just about
ready to address the group, and you won't be in here very long." After about 30 minutes the hombre got our
attention and told us to find a pillow, blanket, a pad, and a place on
the floor. The door to the room closed. This was 5pm on Thursday, October 20th, 2005.
I could feel my blood pressure rise to
about 200 over 130.
-
- - - - - - - -
Throughout
our entire stay, the staff was absolutely a marvel of calm and friendly
attitude, and constant willingness to happily help with whatever anyone
requested of them. Except when it became
necessary to clarify to some of the confused guests, that it was not possible
to go outside.
Our first of
three nights in our shelter… what I’ve coined an 'above ground bunker,' was
very quiet and peaceful. Which was truly
amazing… with 300 people lying on the floor of this room, there was not enough
room for anyone to even straighten their legs.
Everyone slept and rested in fetal positions.
I found out later that the eye was
within 10~20 miles of us, for about 7 hours.
Most hurricanes don't stay in one place that long. Remember, as I mentioned earlier… Wilma was
not a typical hurricane.
- - - - - - - - -
My preference, as was my girlfriend's, was to be in the corner of the room, so
that we had a wall next to us on one side instead of people. The other good thing about this location was
that when people had to get up at night, and go to the bathroom… we didn’t have
them walking over us.
The bad news
about our location was that when we had to use the facilities, which was
possible only by permission and in small groups, was that we had to carefully tip-toe thru, around, and over about 75 people.
For some reason, in the soft light and the warm 80-degree temperature
almost everyone was under blankets! If I
had been in a location where people had to walk over me, I would’ve had all my
appendages (well, at least 4 of them) exposed, so as to be seen and less likely
to be stepped on.
I hope you
can visualize the difficulty of going to the bathroom, or simply trying to
stretch our muscles and joints. I
remember taking what seemed to be half an hour, getting from point A to point
B. For one reason because I wanted to
avoid hurting anyone (or myself) by falling or twisting an ankle or knee; and
for another reason so that I could do something else other than sit or lay in a
fetal position… with my feet in someone’s face and another person’s feet in my
face.
- - - - - - - - -
64 hours
after our incarceration, my girlfriend and I were paroled and took a walk to
downtown Playa Del Carmen. I mean we walked
to what had previously been their downtown.
We wanted to stretch our legs, stop by our now less than all-inclusive
resort to find out if we had any luggage left, and to witness some of the
carnage.
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