The Aftermath of Maria - Day 8

It’s Thursday, September 28th. We have running water. There’s no power and no cell signal.

The generator ran for four hours this morning! After it kicked off, we grabbed Lucy and headed into town. DXC was still closed, and they were asking that employees attempt to come back to work next Monday. We stopped at the Mr. Special and grabbed a bag of grated cheese since our freezer was now cool enough to hold it until dinner time. We are ridiculously excited to eat quesadillas! There’s still no bread, so we got saltine crackers instead. The gas lines are still horrendous. ATMs had lines again, but we’re not sure if they’re actually working.

This ATM line wrapped around our town square.

Back at our condo, rain clouds were building and we had a fabulous breeze in the back bedroom. We hung out on the futon and watched a movie on the laptop. Jason and I discuss our flight. We are nervous about the date. From what little information we have, flights are booked weeks, even months out. Our fingers are crossed we can fly out in the next seven days, not the next four weeks.

Pierre returns from his drive to Aguadilla and was unable to get calls through to my Dad. Frank managed to get on David’s flight to New York City that leaves tomorrow night out of San Juan. David has a friend at Delta Airlines and she pulled some strings to get Frank the hell out of here. We are super happy for those guys, but we will miss them. We will also be losing access to the one (sort of) working cell phone in the group.

I am more determined than ever to escape hurricane Maria hell. I write new notes and send them with Pierre, Frank, and Gustavo so they can all try again tomorrow to get a message out to my Dad to book us a flight. Pierre plans to drive to the cell signal in Bayamon. Gustavo has access to FEMA phones. Frank will be in NYC and can call my Dad sometime Saturday. I’m planting lots of seeds and trusting at least one will grow.

We listened to CNN down in Luis’ Jeep. It is mostly reports from Puerto Rico. Trump is still bragging about his awesome job here. Fuck that guy. Politics are a luxury. I just want help to arrive in Isabela. I want water to drink. I want to survive. In other news, the dam at Guajataca is holding. Maria tells me it should be good now and we will most likely not lose our main water source. Chris shares that Wendy’s may have working Wi-Fi and she will go check it out tomorrow. She’s also heard that flights to the Dominican Republic are available much sooner than flights to the states. My mind is racing. Do we have our passports? Yes. Is Lucy an issue? Maybe. Am I really considering flying into another country with no plan, no connecting flight, no place to stay, with nothing but a change of clothes and a wiener dog? Yes.

Speaking of Lucy, her thyroid meds are still locked in our PO box in town. Chris tells us Pet Vet is open in Isabela, and Gustavo may also have access to thyroid medication. So far Lucy is fine without her meds, but she really shouldn’t go without for longer than a week. I have four more days to figure this out.

Down in the parking lot, Gustavo tells us that things should “stabilize” here in 1-2 weeks. Diesel is at the port but is not being distributed. We also met Eric and his family. He is a doctor, his wife is a nurse, and they have two kids. Eric’s wife is expecting. They are one of the families who have been coming for water. They live in Aguadilla, but they decided to live here in their condo since the water is still not restored in their home. We have a total of five condos occupied in building C now, up from one. Water wins.