We arrived in Cancun late in the afternoon on Wednesday (the 19th) and checked into our hotel. The person at the front desk told us they would have more information about potential evacuations the next morning at 9:00am, so we did our best to enjoy the rest of the day at the hotel. As it turns out, it would be our only night at the resort. We had a very good dinner and we also walked on the beach as moderately big waves crashed on the shore. We were able to watch CNN from our room, so we got an update on Wilma and the forecast track before going to bed. The next morning, I got up a little earlier because Amanda and I wanted to eat at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel that evening and you needed to make reservations between 7 and 8am down in the lobby. As I open the room door, I see an orange sheet on the floor. As you can probably guess, the sheet said that the decision had been made to evacuate the hotel. The evacuation process would take place between 9am and noon. So, I closed the door, woke Amanda up, told her the news, and suggested that we take showers and then go eat a big breakfast. At breakfast, you could see the looks of concern and nervousness on the faces of the other hotel guests. The hotel was handing out "to-go" boxes so people could put together some snacks to take with them to the shelter. Amanda and I packed ours with granola, dried apples, apricots, prunes, and various seeds. We figured this was the best thing to pack for ourselves...especially for Amanda as the mix of fruits and nuts would provide a higher level of nutritional value than just about anything else available. After breakfast, we went back up to the room and reorganized our luggage so we could take the important items and leave the rest of our stuff in the room. The evacuation sheet told us to take our IDs, money, bathroom items, one blanket and one pillow per person, and room keys. We took those plus several bottles of water from the room refrigerator, our sandals (in case we had to walk through water...which we did have to do), cell phones (damn batteries didn't last very long), a couple card games, and sleeping clothes. We stayed in our room until just before noon so I could get one last update on Wilma before we had to leave. We went down to the lobby and boarded a bus that would take us to the evacuation shelter. The shelter was a large gymnasium which consisted of two basketball courts at opposite ends of the gym with some space in between. When we got there, the place was already packed with people. There were these green mats we had to use to lay on and by the time we got to the shelter, there weren't many left, so we managed to grab a couple and squeeze ourselves into a small spot on one of the basketball courts. Here is what it looked like in the gym:
You can see my black backpack and our other black bag being used as a pillow prop at the very bottom of the picture. Not only were we packed in there like sardines, there was no A/C and no way for the wind (which was starting to increase) to create any airflow through the gym. It got hot...and with all the humidity, it was muggy, sticky, and just plain nasty in this gym. The hotel did a decent job taking care of our food and water needs, but as you can imagine, it was on the most minimal of levels. There was plenty of bottled water and fruit. On a side note, I don't think I'll be eating any bananas for the next year or so...I ate enough down there to last me a looooong time. Most of the meals served were just some vegetables mixed with some mayo with a side of...you guessed it...more vegetables, this time more like a cole slaw with vinegar. The meals severely lacked protein which is incredibly important to Amanda and the growth of the baby. Thankfully, I bought four protien bars before we went down to Cancun, so Amanda could supplement the food we got from the hotel with those bars. Those protein bars and the "Germ-x" hand sanitizer turned out to be the two best purchases we made for this trip.
For most of the day on Thursday (the 20th), Amanda and I talked with the people around us and played card games. As the day progressed, the wind got stronger and more rain bands moved into the Cancun region. By Thursday night, the winds were gusting to hurricane force (more than 73 mph) and the power would occasionally go out, but didn't go out permanently until early Friday morning. The first half of Friday morning was spent listening and watching Wilma come in with full force. The roof would occasionally rattle rather loudly as the force of the wind started pulling up the metal sheets that compose the roof. They weren't being ripped off...but it was only a matter of time before they did. Once it was determined that the gymnasium was no longer safe for us, the second evacuation began. I'll pick it up there with the next blog entry. Stay tuned...
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