Saturday, October19, 2019 A Hurricane memory

I'm not sure why this popped up now. but it did so...

A while back I wrote that with no Internet, no electricity, no radio, one of the things we all craved was music. Even when stores like Wal-mart opened again, there wero little portable battery-operated CD/radios available. I finally ordered one from Amazon.

When it came, Elaine was still in the States, I was here taking care of the animals and getting whatever work done I could. This was the first song I played on my new CD player. And I played it over and over and over. I just need that reminder that There wer epeoplewho had it worse than I did and that we all need to help each other. There was so much good that surrounded us after the hurricane. This was both a reminder to pass it on and to be grateful. As if I needed reminders for either.

The other things I wanted to hear right away were the orginal cast albums of Les Miz and Phantom of the Opera.

Then I stared playing my "Waiting for the Hurricane" mix CDs. Boy, did those have new meanings!

The past few weeks have been largely full of our nephew Ben, driving back and forth to San Juan. Some day soon I will post the saga of our adventure on Tuesday. For now, you'll just have to wait for it.

Thanks for reading.

Friday, September 20 2019 The second anniversary

Two years ago we were hunkered down riding out the first part of Hurricane Maria. We survived both the storm and its aftermath.

A couple of updates since the hurricane: Trump continues to lie about how much money was appropriated and sent to Puerto Rico to aid recovery. He continues to lie about what a great job FEMA did. You may have read that an assistant FEMA administrator and several other FEMA employees were indicted on corruption and bribery charges in connection with a $1.8 billion contract for the reconstruction of the island's electric grid. What you may not have read is that FEMA sent out letters to pretty much everyone who applied for Individual Assistance with FEMA since 2008 that they incorrectly shared personal addresses of 2.5 million people with private contractors. Of those 2.5 million, 1.8 million also had personal banking information shard with contractors. So pretty much everybody in Puerto Rico post-Maria has had their information shared. We applied for FEMA assistance. When we first applied, we didn't hear anything for a couple of months. We went to check on our application and were told they had no record of us ever applying. So, we applied all over again. (In a way this turned out to be a good thing because that's how we found out about the Small Business Administration's post disaster loans.) Several weeks later we received a letter telling us we were eligible for "Transitional Sheltering Assistance" (in a hotel in San Juan) because our house was damaged. One day later we received another letter from FEMA telling us our house was habitable and therefore we weren't eligible for any assistance. These are not uncommon stories.Yep, cheeto-in-chief, FEMA did a great job in Puerto Rico.

Today is calm, quiet, hot, a bit muggy, and very still. Except for the ocean. The ocean is rockin' and churnin'! These were taken at Playa Pastillo yesterday.

It's bigger today. There are high surf, coastal flooding, and strong rip tide advisories up for today all along the coast.

Hurricane Jerry is spinning around out there almost due east of us in the Atlantic. It shouldn't be a problem; it is tracking well north of us and should pass us during the day tomorrow. We may get some rain - and more waves - but that should be it.

We are supposed to be in Ohio right now for my 50th (!) high school reunion. Between our nephew Ben still in the hospital in San Juan (many trips back and forth), ailing horses (nothing serious!), my sister and niece being here to be with Ben and no one available to care for the animals this weekend, we are sitting this one out. Maybe I will make the next one. (I've said that since the 40th). We will be in Michigan next weekend for our daughter's wedding though!

Unless there is a hurricane of course.

MARIA log March 7, 8 Day 167-168 Wednesday and Thursday

We're coming to the end of the post-hurricane journal As I read through the journal from here on, much of it is mundane, getting-back-to"normal" stuff. There are still a few things I want to share but most of the "exciting" stuff is behind us now. Thank you all for sharing this journey. I do hope you'll keep reading as our new adventures unfold. 

We reached an agreement with La Vakes to buy Ola Lola's, the house, the business, everything. It's some pretty creative negotiating but we get what we need and Stephanie and Jordan get the chance to live their dream, just as we did almost 12 years ago.

We planned a community pot luck for tonight before we knew La Vakes were going to be here. It was a great party. We got to announce the good news and to introduce Stephanie and Jordan to their new community. They were well received (as we knew they would be) and people were happy for us as well.

Thebig waves continue. The four-corners is still flooded. This is the longest big wave event I remember. Usually it's a day or so, maybe three, but this is just going on and on. No rain again today.


Thursday March 8

No rain. big waves continue. Rumors of water rationing continue, but for now we're okay.

MARIA log March 6 Day 166 Tuesday

Tuesday March 6 day 166

Sunny morning. The "big wave event" continues.

The flooded area across the street is bigger Sea water continues to pour through the breached dune. The four corners down at Shacks is still flooded.

People have tried to open the mouth of the river so the water can drain out but the waves keep pushing sand and sea water back in to the river mouth, trapping all the water behind it.

The waves are so big and the dune is so damaged that we can see the tops of the breaking waves from our house.

The big wave are pounding other beaches as well. At Crashboat, pretty much whatever the hurricane left, the big waves are finishing off.

The surfers are enjoying it though.

No rain today for which we are actually a little bit grateful . If it rained hard up in the mountains, there's no place for the water to go. It would have been an ugly flood.

MARIA log March 5 Day 165 Monday

Monday, March 5 day 165

La Vakes - Stephanie, her significant other Jordan, and Stephanie's parents, Gary and Sandie - are here from Wisconsin to start the process of buying Ola Lola's. YAY!

One of our worst fears since the hurricane is coming true: huge waves are here, driven by a confluence of storms in the North Atlantic. The already weakened, fragile dunes have been breached in a number of places, the property across from us and at Middles especially. Sea water is coming ovr the dune through our pathway to the beach.

The field across the street is half covered by sea water. It will be a long time before that grass and hay recovers. 

La Vakes were here at 6:30 AM because they couldn't get back to their rental down at Shacks. The four corners is flooded with sea water pushed up river by the waves. So, they are hanging out with us. That's a good thing!

MRIA log March 2 Day 162 Friday

Friday, March 2 day162

So we start the new month with new rumors of water rationing.

There is a website that says rationing starts Sunday at 5:00 AM. According to a document posted on this website that purports to be from the water authority, we will have water 48 hours on, 48 hours off. But apparently, this website and its information are all fake. Even with electricity and Internet back, the information we're getting isn't much better or more reliable than when our information source was the like at the gas station.

A friend of ours - who was one of the people who debunked the water rationing website - believes that rationing is inevitable if we don't get significant rain. Lake Guajataca  is still low.

But for now, water pressure is up and down, but we do have water. But no rain.

NOW, Saturday, March 2

A year later and water rationing is (still) a reality. The real water authority posted the rationing "schedule" for March. It's the same, 24 hours on, 24 off.

Thanks (again!) to St. Jeremy and to our landlady Angie, we have a cistern and pump. As long as the cistern can fill up on days we have water, we're fine.

MARIA log Feburary 28, March 1 Days 160, 161 Wednesday, Thursday

Wednesday, February 28 day 160

No rain, sunny all day.

Stuff must have happened today but I don't remember what it was.

Thursday, March 1 day 161

Ditto yesterday.

MARIA log February 25, 26, 27 Days 157, 158, 159 and NOW

Sunday, February 25 day 157

Sunny and warm morning, no rain overnight.

Also no electricity again from 1:30 AM on.

Only one brief rain shower during the day but howling winds. Then heavy rain in the evening.

Electricity still off when we got home from Carole's.

NOW Monday, February 25

From the Rock at Golandrina a couple of days ago

Light rain overnight. Not enough to relieve the drought or water rationing but it's helping the grass and the pastures. Mostly sunny and windy.

Monday, February 26 day158

Heavy rain overnight. Still no electricity at 6:00 AM. It came back on about 1:00 PM.

NOW Tuesday, February 26

Light rain overnight, then sunny and very windy.  The water was back on so we did some laundry. And since the water was on and I could wash him, I took Coda to walk on Playa El Pastillo  "El Pastillo" translates as "the dough." That's appropriate; the waves are constantly kneading the shoreline and the beach. Anyway, the colors in the water have been incredible.

Tuesday, February 27 day 159

Woke up to:

Light still on;
Sunshine;
Breezy but not howling.

A day of cleaning and painting.

The Small Business Administration called today - our business loan for $22,000 has been approved. We're probably not going to take it because of the terms.  We're still waiting to hear about our SBA homeowner's loan. If that is approved, we'll probably take it. The terms are much better.

NOW Wednesday, February 27

Light rain overnight, Sunny and windy. Is there a pattern here? Still not enough rain to end the rationing though. So today is a no-water day which means - among other things - I don't take Coda to the beach. Today was a trail-walk day. A lot of times that means we walk up over the Rock at Golandrina. I love it up there. Whichever way you look, the view is different.

The rock itself is an exposed edge of the limestone up-lift that creates Puerto Rico. The edges have be carved by millennia of wind and sand in to this ragged sharp-edged alien-world-looking rock called aeolianite. It's really cool stuff. And it's fun to watch the ocean through it.

And always, there are those colors.

MARIA log February 23 Day 155 Friday

Friday, February 23 day 155

No light again from 3:00 AM until 3:00 PM.

The new wire the cable company strung through the quebrada (the canyon) coming down the hill came loose and is down across the road. Yet another one-lane obstacle on the road.

When we finally got the means to communicate after the hurricane, one of the first things we did was to contact the people who were interested in buying Ola Lola's. We were very stright forward: we've been through a major hurricane, things are a mess, are you still interested? Two of the three said YES! The fist of those, the La Vakes, are coming next week to look things over and hopefully seriously talk about buying.

Our big push is to get things as ready as we can to show them as we can. "Da Guys," Andres and Chino, the brothers who do pretty much all our construction, finished the new bathroom vanity, new track lights and installed the third new ceiling fan. Our friend Chip is cruising on getting the new fence up. He's really good and it looks great!

Elaine finished cleaning/painting the library/laundry/guest room and it looks fabulous! Da Guys did a great job installing the new tile floor. Just keeping  on keepin' on!

Cold, rainy, windy afternoon.

MARIA log February 22 Day 154 Thursday

Thursday, February 22 day 154

High wind and hard rain overnight.

More dealing with SBA bureaucratic  B.S. Now SBA wants "stamped" copies of our last five years tax returns from the IRS. Apparently, "the system" isn't giving Ernest Jackson, the guy we're dealing with at SBA, the kind of access to our tax records he thinks he should have.

So I called the IRS and they have no idea what he's talking about, no idea what a "stamped" copy is. The woman at the at the IRS said she could send me certified copies of our tax returns. Certified copies are $50 each (!) and can take up to 6 months to get.

 I spent more than four hours on line, on the phone and waiting for a fax that never came. But the woman from the IRS was really nice. Once we figured out what Ernest Jackson really wanted, she said, "I can just fax that to you! Do you have a fax?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, we'll just stay on the line while you drive to Kinko's."

"Uh, no Kinko's. The nearest Kinko's is 900 miles in Miami. I can get to a fax machine but I will lose the call."

"Waddya mean?"

"Well, I have to drive up the mountain through a narrow rock-walled canyon to get there. There is no cell signal in the canyon."

"Waddaya mean 'no cell signal?' How do you get by with no cell signal?"

"It's just for a few minutes in the canyon. It's just the way it is." I didn't bother to explain about the months we'd been without cell signal at all. She was really cute about it.

MARIA log February 21 Day 153 Wednesday

Wednesday, February 21, day 153

Still incredibly windy, 20-30 mph, day and night.

Hard - but short - sideways rain overnight.

More hassles with the Small Business Administration trying to prove I/we own this property. The problem is the difference here between postal/mailing address and what are called physical addresses. They are not the same.

Most places outside of towns don't have actual street addresses. For example, our postal/mailing address is "332 Bo. Bajuras." (Bo. is the abbreviation for barrio.) Bo. Bajuras is just a descriptor, not a street. The road we live on does not have a name or a number. "332" is just a box on a post. It has actually moved several times. It is not connected to the property. If you put that address into GPS, Siri would say, "Hunh?" because it is not a street address.

To actually locate the property you need the physical address, which is long and complicated. And, you have to know what it means to know what it means, to find the place. If I just gave you the physical address, you still couldn't find us. GPS and Google Maps don't recognize our physical address as an address at all so don't bother trying to find us that way.

Anyway, SBA needs some document that connects us as owners of the property and owners of the business to the actual physical address. Some documents use the postal address, some the physical address but none of them have both;

I found three different documents that, if taken together, I think connect all the dots. I hope SBA thinks so too.

We tried to see an attorney about all this but he's closed on Wednesdays. We tried to see SBA at their Isabela center but high winds and a hard afternoon downpour drove them out.

Frustrating day.

This whole issue of proper documentation is frustrating many people trying to get help. In some cases, because of how property sometimes changes hands in PR. "Hey, I'll trade you an acre of my land for four of your cows." "Okay." Handshake. That was four or five generations ago. the guy who traded the cows built a house on his new land. His kids upgraded the house and raised their kids there. Now the house is destroyed by the hurricane. But because generations ago no deed or title was ever filed, the great-great grand kids can't "prove" to SBA or FEMA's satisfaction that they own the land, even though their family has lived there for more than 100 years. That's the first question SBA and FEMA ask: do you have title to the land? No title - no help. Oh you rent? Sorry, can't help you.

A lot of people will be living under tarps for a long time.

MARIA log, February 20 Day 152 Tuesday

Tuesday, February 20 day 153

Five months today since the hurricane.

Only 99 days until the 2018 hurricane season starts.

Windy, no rain

MARIA log February 19 Day 151 Monday

Monday, February 19 day 151

Today Elaine  took off to the mountains to deliver food and other supplies with volunteers from Ciudad de Salvacion.

After loading trucks, cars, and vans with food, water, and other supplies, they headed off on the nearly three-hour drive to Morovis in the mountains in the center of the island. This area was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Maria. On the only roads into one small community, flood waters swept away the bridge.

Full disclosure: this is not my photo.

Even now, 151 days after the hurricane, the bridge is still under construction.

The caravan of supply vehicles had to cross the river on the ford, the same way the residents get in and out. If the river is high, the ford is impassable and the communities beyond are isolated.

Fortunately, the river wasn't high on this day. 

 

The people at the church expect this to be their last food and water run in to this area. Grocery stores are starting to be stocked so food and water is becoming more readily available. There is still a great need however. 

From here the caravan moved on to another stop passing more signs of destruction, recovery and continued need for help.

I didn't go on this trip, something I truly regret. I had to be at home waiting for delivery of some construction materials. I also regret that I/we didn't go on any of the earlier trips, either with Ciudad with other groups. Unfortunately, we always seemed to find out about them after the fact. 

"You ask me why I'm not leaving. The process has changed but the goal hasn't." -- a sign in a store in the mountains. 

That kind of says it for all of us.