Since the hurricane, life has been busy. We were expecting another tropical depression yesterday but it dissipated and went south. However, we are getting rain and low clouds. I don't see anything on the satellite images that explains the persistent rain we are having today and that mystifies me greatly. It is very tropical out and little bugs are flying everywhere. One town nearby, San Jose, was evacuated yesterday due to the impending storm because most of the people that live there lost their homes in the hurricane and are either living outdoors or in makeshift tents. The biggest thing I've learned since the hurricane is that the outpouring of help from the local people and the expats has been overwhelming. I've never seen anything like it. There are hundreds of people helping in San Carlos alone. There's even a movement to help all of the animals. All of this makes me glad we moved here. Everyone who knows us, knows that this is our second hurricane of personal consequence. The first was Hurricane Kenna in 2002. Bruce and I lived on the beach two hours north or Puerto Vallarta at Playa Las Tortugas and we fled to Tepic one hour before the hurricane hit. We lost all of our belongings on the first floor of our house but we didn't lose the house. It took us months to dig out and oddly, there was not a lot of support in that area. Many people in San Blas and neighboring areas were left homeless and there was a significant loss of life. It wasn't easy to recover from that, but we did.

I know that every year there are weather events all over the world that are catastrophic. Still, I don't understand what is going on right now with all of the typhoons, tsunamis, hurricanes; as well as the basic human misery caused by other humans. It just feels like there is something bigger than us hitting us over and over again. When I look at all of the humanitarian efforts around the world I wonder why we can't have world peace. If you take insane and unfounded hatred out of the mix, prejudice, bigotry and the rest of the ugly emotions, we really could have peace in the world. I'm not religious but sometimes I wonder if the catastrophes that are coming often these days are sending us a message. We tried to do it in the 60's, but we were labelled hippies and potheads. I wonder if we could try it again without the drugs. I am not feeling the love around the world. I guess I'd better get off of this subject or I will drive myself and my friends crazy. Still, if we could all do a couple of good and unselfish things every day life would be better for everyone. I hope it's not too late.

The men of El Cobijo are doing well. They are safe for now and can stay at the ladies' retirement home in Guaymas for three more months. At the end of that time they want to live in Guaymas (the city next to us) where they can get out more easily and be closer to the public health facility and farmacias etc. At this point, we are using donation money to buy supplies for them each week; mostly meat and chicken. There's a great butcher shop called VillaReal and they kindly give us a 30 percent discount. We are still getting great donations for them. One of my neighbors brought down a 25 pound bag of pancake mix and diabetic syrup. They love pancakes! Kris and I also discovered the local dollar store where everything is under 12 pesos. If you like to shop like we do, this is a great find. It's like the typical US dollar store only more fun with more random items that make us smile. This week we're going to put some energy into finding a good Mexican book store. There's one man who loves to read anything and everything. He has lost a leg to diabetes and his other leg is losing circulation so he's not in good shape but he is very happy all the time. We love him. We're going to try to find out more about each one of the men and we'll have plenty of time to do that. The one lady that lives there from El Cobijo is pretty out of it, but when she's awake she sings Cielito Lindo.

One bad thing that is happening right now in Guaymas is that lots of people have gotten very sick since the hurricane and they think it's from just breathing in the air pollution that happened after the hurricane. One friend of ours was sick in bed for a week with terrible symptoms. A lot of folks are hospitalized with this. Thankfully, it seems temporary.

Our wonderful grocer, Tony, has not been in town since the hurricane. We know he's coming back but we don't know when. We are all realizing how much we depend on Tony. Kris and I have been to a couple of wholesale warehouses since we've been out looking for supplies for El Cobijo and we have discovered how much work it is for Tony to get the freshest vegetables, fruits and meats. He has to go each day early in the morning to get everything he needs. We really miss Tony. The other stores in San Carlos just don't put the effort into buying fresh fruits and vegetables and getting rid of stock when it starts going bad like Tony does. We've heard that some of his refrigerators and coolers were damaged in the hurricane so I'm sure he's getting them repaired. The snow birds will be back soon too and I don't think Tony had any kind of a vacation last summer. We'll celebrate when Tony reopens. Tony is really our rock and if you think about it he helps us be less dependent on Guaymas for staples. If he were to run for office I would vote for him.