After three weeks' kicking around down here, I finally feel I can relay a hurricane damage report. When we returned the rental car in Todo Santos, the agent there told us a little bit about the hurricane and gave us the Spanish word for damage: dano.
We hear that Todos Santos was hit harder than Cabo or Pescadero. They say the winds lasted over 10 hours there and left 20 dead in Baja California Sur. Shopkeepers all over Todos Santos told us of the repairs they had to make, the walls that had been painted and the inventory that had been replaced. Here in Pescadero it was more wind than rain, and the wind and the rapid wash of rainwater down the arroyos caused the most damage.
Although most of the gringo places seem to have escaped unscathed by the storm's ravages, a closer look at all of Pescadero reveals a different story. Some businesses along the Transpeninsular Highway in Pescadero were completely demolished and have not been rebuilt. One was The Sand Bar where Bruce and I watched the Super Bowl last year. The only remaining hints of its existence are the partial palapa lying smashed on the ground and the twisted, empty metal framework of what was once their sign. Just north up the road from that site an empty cement slab and a pizza oven mark the location of what was the best little pizza place in town. Further north along the highway we spotted some ruins where Felipe's Restaurant was. There is little hope they will reopen.
True to the email I received while still in the States and inquiring about a motel where we hoped to stay, the motel was completely destroyed. The current owners simply hand-lettered a "For Sale" sign beachside, tacked up a realtor's sign streetside and walked away from it. Most windows and all the doors are gone. Only one room sports a functioning roof. Furniture has vanished, but oddly enough, a peek through an open doorway shows drinking glasses balanced on the sink's edge. The yard is littered with downed palm trees and cement pillars. Our host here, Bobby tells us that is what everything in the area looked like after the hurricane, but most (gringos) got right after it, cleaned up vegetation and made arrangements for repairs.
Bobby's wife, Wendy, took time one day to relate their experiences during the hurricane. They stayed in their house that night. Their boys feared sleeping in the upper story, so everyone moved to the ground floor. Before nightfall, they watched the retaining wall (which had been erected to protect the house) wash down the arroyo. Later, a wall of water rolled down the arroyo aimed directly at their rear door. Bobby turned the heavy dining room table on its side, placing it in front of the door while Wendy hustled the boys out the side door. Somehow all four found their way to the fifth wheeler further uphill on their property, away from the arroyo. Somehow the little trailer and the family within made it through the night. The next morning they once again entered their home, finding over two feet of sand, mud and sludge covering the ground floor. The foundation and the ground under it had been washed away from one corner of the three story home, leaving a hole five feet deep. Friends from church brought wheelbarrows and soon all were working to clear debris from the house and build a supporting wall under it. All ground story furniture and rugs had to be replaced. The whole interior lower story and the exterior needed repainting. Wendy was surprised and grateful to find her tile floors intact. Bruce, viewing the hole dug under the house by rushing water, says it is really amazing the whole house didn't topple over!
Robert, who owns Dr. Robert's Ocean Oasis, three or four doors down, said he lost the roofs on all his buildings. The women who opened a lunch counter last year on the corner of his lot have not been back to repair the roof, rebuild the palapa patio or reopen the business. Robert rebuilt several of the upper stories on his buildings and re-roofed everything so he would be ready for this year's peak season. His place now looks good as new, as do most gringo places.
The hurricane left gifts as well as damage in its wake. For the first time ever, we are seeing "help wanted" signs in restaurants and stores. The landowner across the street from us was busy last year overseeing the Mexicans who were cleaning up his palm grove. They did get it done last year, but then the hurricane came, providing the workers with more employment. Everyday we hear his crew out there singing, laughing, joking, playing their radios and celebrating the never-ending employment! Everywhere, Mexicans are busy building cinder block/cement walls, installing new doors and windows, repairing palapa roofs. Bobby has been waiting since before we got here to have a new palapa built onto our casita. Today, the team finally showed. I imagine Bobby was heartily disappointed when they left midday to finish another job elsewhere. Lots of gringos are hiring Mexicans to repair their places and the continued employment must be helping the local economy.
The gift we have enjoyed most is all the firewood distributed along the beach. Other years, beach bonfires were rare as firewood was so scarce. Now, almost daily, we see evidence of yet another beach bonfire. When friend Bob was here he asked Bobby if Bobby had some charcoal we could us to grill some fish. Bobby reported that all the store sold it........then he relented and told us that a few nights ago he had grilled meat for his family, using cactus wood from the beach and what a nice flavor it imparted. Bob bought some fresh shrimp, boiled it, then "finished it" on the grill over that same cactus wood. Oh, was it tasty! When it was time to take Jenny, Bob's wife, to the airport in Cabo, we all rode along, now obsessed about finding more things to grill over the cactus. We grilled chicken, hamburgers, potatoes and poblano peppers. We ate like kings; cooking over fuel delivered for free, straight from the mountains....gifts from the hurricane.
And for the final gift, we see Gary's dream being fulfilled. That house he started so many years ago is now being finished by the new owners. We haven't talked to them yet this year to really know if hurricane damage inspired the work. We are just happy to see Gary's dream and legacy completed.
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