The Aftermath of Maria - Day 11

It’s Sunday, October 1st. There’s no power and our water comes and goes. The nights are getting a bit cooler so it’s not impossible to sleep. The generator ran from 8am to 9am. We swept the floors now that they are finally dry. The water on the ceiling is starting to dry out. Ants have completely taken over our kitchen. We moved our food to the island to try and keep it bug free. We are covered in ant bites. We made spaghetti for lunch. We had five boxes of pasta and all five were full of STUPID BUGS. I found a box of macaroni and cheese that was bug free and we stole the pasta from there. Our canned beans are just fine and our tortillas are good, and we’ll hit the grocery store one last time tomorrow while we’re out. We just have to last five more days (hopefully). Our neighbors are excited to get our propane stove when we leave. When you live in hurricane hell, excitement comes from some pretty weird shit.

Everyone is making plans for tomorrow. Pierre and Luis will get in gas lines early tomorrow morning. Pierre is driving to Bayamon for a cell signal. We are trying to figure out how to contact American Airlines about Lucy’s health certificate. We will go to DXC tomorrow and maybe they will have connectivity of some kind.

We are packing up all of our things and we moved the furniture back to its original layout. We are pretty sure we won’t be able to come back and live here. Jason took trash downstairs and the dumpster is almost full. Who knows when trash pick up will begin again. We seriously know nothing. About anything. For almost two weeks now.

I should mention here that two days ago, on Friday afternoon, a Claro van showed up. Claro is a local mobile carrier. We watched as a team of people in Claro shirts spread out and knocked on doors. They didn’t speak with us because they assumed we didn’t speak Spanish. We got excited thinking they brought working phones so we could contact family, but no such luck. Today, Nick told us all about the Claro people. They were here to SELL INTERNET. Um, there’s no power and no cell towers working and no communication anywhere in Isabela! But hey! Sign this two year contract and we’ll have you connected in ten days! WTactualF? This is how they are using fuel? Show up with bottled water or a working phone or get the hell out of here. Nick did ask them about Claro sharing cell towers with other carriers (we all have AT&T). They said that was in the works.

Nick came back around 5pm, excited, and told us to turn on our AT&T phones. His AT&T phone had picked up a Claro signal. We grabbed our phones, climbed up into the stairwell, and assumed the awkward flamingo with outstretched arms position to try and pick up a signal. And my phone suddenly went from “no signal” to “Claro”. HOLY SHIT. I sent text messages without getting an error message, but didn’t get any replies. I couldn’t make any calls. We waited a few hours and tried again. I tried to call my Dad a few times and no luck. I got a message that all lines were busy. So I kept trying.

And then it rang.

And then I heard my Dad’s voice.

***INSERT A THOUSAND CRYING FACE EMOJIS***

OH MY GOD DAD I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S YOU HI!!!!!!!!! I’M ALIVE! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING US TICKETS TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!

Jason was able to call his mom while I was talking to my Dad. We talked fast because we knew the signal could drop at any moment. I also called my friend Erin and told her to get on social media and tell the world about Puerto Rico. Unleash the rage. We are hungry and thirsty and people are dying and we’ve seen NO HELP in Isabela. For fuck sake somebody please help the people on this island. She was happy to oblige. My next call was to my Mom, but I couldn’t get a signal. I’ll try tomorrow.