Hurricane Tomas
I can imagine what you’re thinking: Peace Corps volunteers probably gain some serious survival skills. They probably are used to weathering the storm in tin and thatched roofed huts. It’s probably exactly like that movie Twister (minus the Helen Hunt and what’s-his-face romance, clearly) in that they remain awake for hours while battening down hatches and scrambling to rescue neighbors’ houses.
The truth is we do gain some mad skills here. But the further truth is: I am currently sitting on a bed in an incredibly nice hotel in Santiago watching a marathon of America’s Next Top Model while Tomas weakens to a tropical storm.
Haiti, of course, bore the brunt of this climatic bullet. They just can’t seem to catch a break. It’s basically like watching one poverty trap after another gain strength over there…
There are 60 volunteers at this consolidation point. Most everyone has been chilling with air conditioning, hot water, free food and television since Tuesday. I arrived only yesterday after receiving special permission to finish a medical mission in Dajabon.
Either way, this luxurious treatment is getting old. Cabin fever has set in.
Yesterday, I hung out in the local supermarket… kind of like kids do at Wal-Mart in the small town where I’m from… only without those big bouncy balls and areas where you can preview CDs.
Glad to know yall are working hard. Frank and I are on a cruise ship about to leave Ft lauderdale. Well wave as we loop around Cuba with the DR to the west.
I think a rousing game of charades will be fun!