COZUMEL

I wasn't planning on writing anything, until I returned in December,folks, but this one just couldn't wait.......

On our trip to Cozumel,(which we did get to take,) my heart was broken, to see all the devastation. At first glance, I noticed the pierheads, (where we were to dock) were all gone!
The store fronts on all the buildings were gone, and the trees, were almost non existant! One of the shops I stopped in, looked okay at first, until I realized, that it was only half of the store..... The back half, was completely destroyed......but they were open for business! It was their second day of being open for business!!! We managed to hire a taxi driver to take us out to the Mayan ruins, and to see the beach area. Well, folks, what my eyes beheld, just crushed this 'ole girls heart! If this computer could weep, it would.......
The houses that were left standing, barely had any walls left, but no roofs at all, and yet, they still had people who were living in them!!!.......I mean, real live families folks, with small children! There was almost no beach left......................( I understood, that they were working on it being restored real soon.) The one lane road we were driving on, along the beach, was open for only about 2 miles, before we had to turn around, as the sides were almost undermined along the edges.The water just rolled right in, up to the edge of the road!......
But.......
There was something that I did experience, in that one short day, that I haven't seen in a long, long time,....even in my own country, and that was hope! These people have bonded together, and started rebuilding a better Cozumel, even as I write this.......just a few weeks after this hurricane hit,and are open for business!
They have a thankful spirit, not so much for hand outs, but to their God above for having lost only 2 people, during the hurricane. I wish our own rebuilding attitude, after Katrina, could be so refreshingly healthy, and content!
Becky