The aftermath

After the hurricane we realized how nice it is to be self sufficient and self contained. There was considerable damage done by hurricane Jimena, Santa Rosalia and Mulege had strong winds and flooding. Loreto had no water or power for several days. There was destruction to many towns between the pacific and the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula. The army came in and there was a rush of repairs underway almost immediately, repairing roads, replacing power lines, and clearing streets. Within just a few days power was getting turned back on and the main highway was operating again. It was pretty impressive. Here in Puerto Escondido we are quite a ways out of town, so it was easy at first to think that after the wind died down, that it was all over. Us cruisers were pretty much back to normal, but it will be a long time before some of these communities are fully functional.

Blue Moon and ourselves loaned our Honda generators to a local business at the Singlar Marina. Pedro runs a small tienda and the Porto Bello restaurant which caters to the cruisers. Without power he had no lights or refrigeration. The use of the generators allowed him to remain open and prevented him from loosing all his perishable foods. It was nice to be able to help out, and was really of little inconvenience to us.

The other effects of the Hurricane and the rain was that the hills are turning green. The plant life takes advantage of the occasional precipitation and is bursting with new growth. We also had a chance to hike up into what is called Steinbeck Canyon. This is a deep gorge behind the bay that goes back into the Gigante mountains. After the heavy rains there is running water and many waterfalls and pools. The chance to enjoy some cool fresh water was too good to pass up. We had a nice walk with Bruce from Marionette, and Mike and Wendy from Bodisatva.
There were quite a few good size pools to swim in and the narrow canyon provided some shade. It was a nice way to spend a day. The canyon was mentioned in Steinbecks's book "The Log of the Sea of Cortez".