Wilma Causes Mexico Trip To Go Awry

It was a bright sunny tropical day on October 10 when Sandy Sliger, LaDonna O’Bryon and Tommye Smith of Jasper County, along with their friend Marge McNaught of Butts Co. arrived in Cancun, Mexico, to enjoy a two day weekend with Darlene Vela at her timeshare condo.

But it wasn’t long after their arrival before they realized they had made a mistake, when they learned that Hurricane Wilma had developed into a class five hurricane and that the airport had closed.

Ms. O’Bryon said, “My husband had asked me not to go because there was a tropical storm out there, but the weatherman on the Today Show said the storm probably wouldn’t hit until the end of the weekend and we planned to be back by then, so we thought we were safe.”

After the storm hit Ms. O’Bryon and Ms. Vela were fortunate enough to be taken into a private home by friends of Ms. Vela who lived there, but the other three ladies weren’t quite so fortunate. “We had no intention of going to a shelter,” Ms. McNaught said as she began to tell the story.

“We were going to stay at the hotel because we knew it was built to withstand hurricanes, but then we were informed the government wouldn’t let us stay. It wasn’t a very good feeling when we were given a large black garbage bag and told to bring only your most important essentials. We were then marched to a bus with no idea where we were going.
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“Once we got to the shelter we found there was plenty of bottled water. We never felt as if we were in any danger, but we did get a little worried when it didn’t seem to ever end, especially when you’re cut off with no communication and no news.

“The food was a little bit on the scarce side. They did have boxes of canned tuna fish and a few canned vegetables along with a few stale crackers. We finally got a jar of peanut butter and it was better than a T-bone steak.

“There was no electricity or running water so we couldn’t cook or warm up anything. For sleeping purposes we were given a pillow, one sheet and one blanket. The shelter was actually a school with fifteen classrooms with 15 to 20 people in each room. The bathroom facilities were outside in a separate building, but we had to collect rain water in pails to pour into the toilets to make them flush.”

Meanwhile, Ms. O’Bryon and Ms. Vela, at the private home, were concerned because they had no Idea where their three friends were. “If it hadn’t been for my friend who knew someone with the Red Cross,” Ms. Velma declared, “We might still be looking for them.”

Ms. O’Bryon pointed out, “It wasn’t a home you would picture in the U.S. It was a small concrete third-world house with non-flushing toilets, but it was owned by a wonderful family who took us in and even took in other people off the streets.”
When Wilma finally began to subside it was time to start looking for a way home.

“The whole miracle of the trip,” Ms. O’Bryon said, “was when Tommye found out by accident there was a flight going out on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. None of us believed it would happen, but we had nothing to lose, so we went downtown to a park where Air Mexico had tables set up outside.

We were given a handwritten number on a piece of paper and got in line for a ticket. Afterwards we got in line to get on a bus. Once the bus got close to the airport we had to stand in line to get into the airport, then in line to get on the plane. We started out at seven that morning and finally took off for home at 1 p.m. on a Delta humanitarian flight.”

Ms. Sliger summed up the homecoming. “It was just so great! After not being able to communicate with your loved ones for so long, it was just wonderful. A couple of people had cell phones in the shelter, but towards the end they all went dead and nobody could call home. We learned how wonderful home and family are.”

Ms. Smith said, “We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we now know you can’t mess with Mother Nature.”

Ms. McNaught brought home a point with her observation of the aftermath of the storm. “The greatest lesson I learned from the trip was that the Mexican people, rather than leaning on their government, helped themselves.

“Rather than complaining about lack of help from their government, the people were immediately cleaning up as soon as the rain stopped. Rather than watching their perishable foods go bad, they cooked it and shared it. They faced the disaster and took it upon themselves to help instead of fleeing or waiting for someone else to help them.”

The ladies next trip will take them north toward New York City in December. But Ms. O’Bryon said, “We’ll absolutely be going back to Cancun in March. The people there are great.”