November 7, 2005 - Zierikzee, Netherlands

Back home

There's no place like home. It feels good to be back in my childhood town, and I've been thirsty for some quality time with my mom and dad and sister. I've missed them lots over the past year. I'm looking forward to spending the next few weeks drinking nostalgia & the latest news on various family visits. And the weather is great - for November!

posted by Mahi at 9:47 AM 0 comments
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November 5, 2005 - Atlanta, Georgia

Run to dinner

Ever since Wilma's visit, flights out of Cancun have been cancelled in the way that scarcely viewed tv series get dropped off the schedule after their very first broadcast. There is not enough interest, and there is no money in it for the airlines. Many have simply stopped flying here altogether. We had a dinner date in Atlanta last night, but until yesterday morning we didn't know if we still had a flight out of here. Though Delta is one of the few airlines that still has flights out of the city, they cancelled our morning flight. We were put on an afternoon flight into Atlanta, which put us in for a mad scramble to dinner. In fact, after a long ride on Marta followed by a quick walk to our hotel, changing out of our all-day-traveled clothes into something presentable, and a shuttle ride to the venue, we barged in (rather loudly) just as Jim's uncle was giving a long speech on the history of his side of the family. Jim's cousin Kate is getting married today, and the whole family has gathered in Atlanta for the occasion. By the time we arrived everyone had already eaten, but plates were saved and many speeches were still left to be made and we got to partake of a lovely celebratory evening. I'm glad we made it.

posted by Mahi at 11:55 AM 0 comments
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November 3, 2005 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Yabadabadoo.

After 3 long days of freight train sized winds Wilma left the islanders to pick the beach up off the street with bulldozers and replace vanished flimsy structures with the latest trends in poor building methods. Some metal-roofed buildings looked like they'd been opened up like a tin of sardines, and while the majority of palm leaf (palapa) roofs held up amazingly well, several buildings in town now look like big angry fluffed up cats. Many ships went down because Wilma stuck around for so long. Had she staid just a day, they would have made it through, but her persistent winds chafed their lines until they banged into piers or neighboring vessels and mangrove leaves and debris clogged their cockpit drains so rain water flooded down below. The big megayacht anchored in the outer bay got it at the last moment and -after failed attempts at docking and subsequently running aground next to the commercial fishing boats in the outer bay- moved into the lagoon the day before the storm. It came away unharmed. Thankfully there were very few injuries in Isla, and the area got a healthy amount of attention after the storm. Care packages and drinking water were helicoptered in for days on end, and president Fox even paid a visit to the island. The power and water companies worked hard to get service restored, and by the time I'm writing this the majority of the island is back online. Cancun is also back up and running. I just hope that Cancun will work equally hard to restore its hotels and start bringing the tourists back. If that doesn't happen, this area will grow very poor very quickly...

posted by Mahi at 1:18 PM 0 comments
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