From Wednesday November 2

It’s been a frustrating few days. Hard to nail down exactly what I have been doing, but in a nutshell, trying to get back in the swing of things. Since I got electric back, the power would go out for about 5 minutes at least once daily. We figured out it had to be that when they got ready to bring another area up, they shut everyone off and then brought them all up together. You got used to it. Saturday night Joe and Janet and I went to dinner down on Yaxchilan. We were hoping to get to watch some college football at Caliente, but though they were open, it was only until 6pm and they were not serving food or alcohol. The ban and the curfew are still in effect even today. We left there at 6 since they were closing, and drove into centro to find something to eat. The boulevard was bustling, well past dark. We were able to get a beer at a Mexican restaurant whose name I can’t remember, but next door to Cielito Lindo. I think it was probably 8pm when we left, and the traffic was insane still. Felt like 10:30.

Saturday night we turned the clocks back, which made it worse for people without power and for those of us who could get nothing on TV but a few stations totally in Spanish. The nights are interminable. Sunday Elizabeth, Laura and I thought about going to the beach, but it started to rain and I think we were starting to feel some outer bands of Hurricane Beta, which was far to the south of us. Instead we went to City Club and got memberships and a few food items. Diet A&W Root Beer, which is impossible (until now) to get here. From there Liz and I shopped a little more at Soriana, and sort of wasted the day away doing not much of anything.

Monday I went with the Ceruttis and the remaining staff of the former Over 30 Club ZH to their office/house off Palenque. It was the first time in there since the hurricane, and they had to break the door down. There was some water but none of the equipment looked affected. So I cleaned the equipment room while Ever, Rafa and Janet cleared out the front yard and Adrian cleared off the roof. Joe and Sergio went in search of a new front door but were unsuccessful. It was a good day as far as accomplishments. After I got home, Laura and I went to Soriana to find some money (no luck with ATMs) and some actual groceries. I guess I was feeling too confident about the power. I bought 2 items for the freezer (I was craving waffles earlier in the week so I indulged in a box of Eggos) and some bread and other absolutely-has-to-be-refrigerated food like cheese and yogurt. Kimberley came over in the evening to talk, which is necessary even when things are normal here, and after she left, I went in to watch “The Terminal” on my laptop. Then the rain came.

It was a pretty strong wind and rain storm, again courtesy of Beta, and it blew a transformer in front of my building. The power went out for a second, then came back on as a brownout. My whole life I didn’t know what a brownout was and this was my second one here. It would go in various stages of brown, from supporting the television to not, and the refrigerator was not liking this one bit. The motor made horrid noises as the power wavered from barely on to barely off. I think most of the night while I was sleeping it was completely off anyway. So much for buying freezer stuff.

Tuesday I was waiting for the plumber (water issues in the floor according to the brujas downstairs) and the bug man, and talked to Janet via phone. She advised me to just unplug the fridge until the power was back full. She said it would burn the motor out and then where would I be, with no fridge and a landlord with no work and no money? She came over and took my cheese and my yogurt and the freezer items to hold in her own freezer so I wouldn’t waste the money.

The plumber took most of the day and I had to pay for Laura’s share of the bug man, what with all the lights going off and on I was not taking any chances with bugs and she didn’t have any money. I could not use the toilet or the shower until Wednesday morning (he had to tear them out and then put them back together using cement and sealing and it needed to stay dry over night), and the bathroom and kitchen are both disasters. I decided not to eat or drink anything so that I wouldn’t be tempted to go against Wilmer’s advice on using the toilet, but I broke down and had some crackers with ranch dressing. I don’t like ranch on my salad, and I have an unopened bottle of bleu cheese dressing that can be hard to find, so I figure if the ranch gets wasted it’s no big deal.

I was filling my evening reading when the power went completely out. You have to understand that despite knowing that there are whole families living in shelters and people facing poverty and eviction because jobs are scarce with a ruined hotel zone, it is just draining to have no power. I had given my big religious candle to Liz and only had two small pillars that are just about down to stubs now, and one flashlight. No music, no light, no TV. Poor me, I know, but after a while it really gets to you. I lit the candles and continued reading by flashlight, completely depressed, hungry, and a little pissed off. It had been a sucky day I was feeling sorry for myself.

Luckily the outage was a pre turn-on-the-lights procedure and about 20 minutes later the power came on full force. I plugged the fridge back in and watched “The Shipping News” on the computer, read some more and went to bed at 10pm.

This morning it’s sunny and I heard the Z Gas truck’s annoying (but somehow today beautiful) song. I took a shower and used the toilet. I am drinking coffee and want a waffle but I guess that will be for tomorrow. I have no towels left and my laundry is going to cost me a fortune and probably a week’s worth of wait. I guess I will have to find money today for rent and while I am at it buy some towels. I am running out of money and may have to return to Oregon sooner, but what choices do I have? Cancun is rebuilding, and people will come, and things will be normal soon (still waiting on Cablemas and the internet), and I feel I will not take this stuff for granted in the future. But I guess we’ll see.