Hurricane Ike, Turn-away!

Ike Turner... get it? He probably hits harder.... ooooooh! That is not funny, but i still went there.

Well he had to deal with Hurricane Ike while we were trying to enjoy a little vacation in Cayo Coco, Cuba. Home of Fidel, Che, and Rum. Due to the weather and the fact that we had to leave early meant that I didn't get to see much of any of them.

So we flew down on a special deal for an all-inclusive. Why were we so priveleged to get a special deal? Because a hurricane was on the way. Now we are no dummies. We know that hurricanes are crazy strong and they don't just mean a "storm" was going to pass through. We did our research. People had told us that it wasn't so bad and that it would quickly pass and Cuba was well equipped and experienced for these kinds of things. So we got down there and the first morning we got our hurricane warning and evacuation procedure... gulp! Still we were unphased. Then that evening room service came and asked if they could tape up our windows (see pic above). How did they know we were going to do it and why advertise to everyone...? Actually it was to help protect against the window breaking. Gulp part 2! Even though it was a nice sun-shiny day the wind was blowing fairly strong and we knew that we weren't so far away from experiencing something very powerful. We were advised that night at dinner that in prepartion for the hurricane that we would all have to meet in the shelter at 7am the next morning. Gulp, gulp, gulp! As we headed back we noticed how all the windows were now boarded up, the bars had been closed, any glass tables were locked up and put away, and people were drinking like fish. (fish don't actually drink like we do, but its fun to imagine a bunch of fish sitting around and drinking... ok its not that fun. lets continue) We packed our baby's bag just in case we needed to get out of there in a hurry... oh wait. Did I leave out the fact that we had a 3 month old with us??? We are adventuresome are we not? We had some of the staff and hotel customers cast us disapproving looks for our poor parenting choice. We're really horrible people.

So we get a phone call at 1am that night just wanting to check up on how we were doing. Ummmm... thanks? We're fine? Really sleepy... but fine. We didn't sleep that much so when they called back at 4:30am and told us: "Get out of your room, NOW!" We were ready to go! The wind was howling and the rain was dropping so hard you've think it would knock your eyeballs right out of your head! Clo had the baby, wrapped up and covered as much as possible and I had my camera bag, passports, Fenix's suitcase, and his diaper bag as we started our trek to the shelter. We had a great room far away from everything and close to the beach, but at this point we were not so keen on our room assignment. We moved slowly and were soaked before we even took our first step. As we moved one of the hotel staff saw our predicament and grabbed Fenix from my wife. He had a solid rain jacket and covered him up as best as possible as another one came over and offered up his raincoat. We moved from building to building trying to get as much shelter as possible. The whole time Fenix is smiling and laughing as if this was the best vacation ever! Seeing that he was only 3 months, that could have been the case!

So we finally reach the shelter, which by the way is only the cafeteria boarded up. We try to make do with the stiff backed chairs and the damp towels we are handed. Imagine all of us crowded in there trying to get comfortable and trying to sleep. Fenix was pretty happy though. He got a nice bed and a lot of attention, so he was good. The rest of us were stuck trying to stay up or sleeping on the floor. It was not very comfortable but we managed to last the 12 or so hours we were there. We did fun things like eat...uh.... .... and play Bingo Bingo Bingo! Not just Bingo. But BINGO, BINGO, BINGO!!! Cubans apparently like yelling bingo and so they want you to say it three times. Once the storm passed we were set back out into the wild. And it did look wild. Trees uprooted, windows broken... the whole nine yards. We had little electricity, no water, and no way to cool down as the beach and pool were closed. Good times.

We were soon evacuated out when Air Canada sent a plane to rescue us. Not just us, but a whole bunch of people. So we lost out on 3 days of our vacation and were not refunded for it. But we were ready to go. We had had our fill. We really want to see what Cuba has to offer... but maybe we will wait till the nice season.