Sobrevivimos al Huracán Rick

As I had predicted, right around 01:00 the fun began. Up until then it had been a lovely evening. Then all hell broke loose rather quickly. The lights went out and came back on several times before going out for good sometime between 2 and 3. From about 01:30 until about 04:30 I had to hold onto the window shutters in our bedroom because the wind was stronger than their latches. So I got comfortable standing and leaning against them until the wind died down sometime around 04:30. First time this has ever happened since I've lived here. The rain was only torrential for a relatively short while, maybe half an hour or so, but the wind kept getting stronger and stronger and blowing directly at our home's south side so water was getting through the shutters. Since the lights were out I could only guess at the sounds I was hearing outside. I thought we had lost part of our roof but it was our neighbor's. I also thought a tree had fallen against our home, but again it was in another neighbor's yard, though our home and everything else was plastered with leaves and branches from surrounding trees. The wind was quite loud, and the gusts could be heard long before they hit so I knew when to brace for their impact. Lupita kept mopping underneath our bedroom window while I held it shut because for a while the water kept pouring in, something we've rarely experienced and never to such an extent.

So we went through about 4 hours of roaring and gusting winds while the so-called eye of the storm passed only 30 km away according to "official" accounts, though I kept checking my weather map when the cell service was working, and the eye seemed to come apart and come right at us. Winds roaring and howling and whistling and sounds of things thudding about outside.

Then all of a sudden things slowed down. It was still too much wind and rain to open the window except for a brief peek, but compared to the previous 4 hours it was calm by comparison. Something had changed. I rubbed my stiff muscles and somehow managed to fall back asleep for a couple of hours before getting up to take the dog out around 07:30 when I also snapped a few pix. I expected the debris on the beach, and there were tons of it, but at one point I found myself walking along thinking "where did all these pingpong balls come from?" before I realized they were turtle eggs. Major bummer. Nothing could be done.

I watched one guy rescue a large LP gas tank from the ocean, and there was a tinaco stuck in the competing currents at the bocana of the canal La Boquita where it couldn't break free and was bouncing around like a child's tub toy. Fishermen were working to keep their pangas safe, none appeared to be in any danger, but I noticed a large sailboat had been moved quite close to the shore. Its anchor must've buried itself quite deep to have held through the storm even though it moved. I had the same thing happen to a boat at La Ropa a few decades ago during a hurricane and never could retrieve the anchor it went so deep in the sand in about 5 meters of water. But no beached or sunken vessels were visible in the bay that I could see.

But the waves were quickly growing and I watched as they started washing completely over the new walkway.

Work crews were out this morning clearing the fallen trees, and the lights only went out 2 or 3 more times after daylight.

But we're all fine and alive and our home is intact. Only lost a couple of plants and a clothesline fell down. It could've been much worse.

Let's hope we don't have any more of those! That's the kind of excitement we can do without.

I heard the road is washed out near the Río Petatlán. Haven't had time to confirm yet. It's siesta time and I'm really looking forward to some food and rest. Hasta más tarde.

This is a Ficus that was in front of Valeria's II by the museo.

Turtle eggs were everywhere throughout the debris on the beach.

The wind howled through this former garden now a cement alleyway like it never had before.