An Ice Adventure in our Tropical Paradise.
Situation Miserable, But Not Serious
Day 3 with no power (after the Epiphany Earthquake): we'd stayed up late enjoying the less humid breezes of last evening with cold beers, so we were just getting going by noon. Caffeine withdrawal was making me almost as cranky as my DS' wifi withdrawal behavior. All of our electronics needed re-charging, and the day was just passing 80degrees with no breeze. Lucky there was a Starbucks just a ten mile drive north, in Mayaguez, and they had power!!!
We spent two hours there before I got restless. As DS was still involved in something online, I took a walk around the block to refresh myself. That block was much bigger than I'd thought and left me with humidity-intolerance. I came back into the cafe with an irrationally urgent desire to go jump into the ocean. A quick check with facebook showed our neighborhood was still without power (fans and a/c), thus we agreed to stop and get ice on the way home. We had no cooler in the car today so we decided it would be smarter to get the ice closer to home, in case traffic was slow. It was almost 4 pm, and we'd had two agreements in a row despite my weather weariness.
Driving south, towards more neighborhoods without power, we again observed the irony of people lining up at some gas stations while others stations seemingly had supplies and no customers. For instance, on the north side of the Mayaguez Mall, the Shell station had one car pumping gas, while on the south side of the mall, technically in Homigueros, there was a line of maybe 2 dozen cars creating traffic hazzards to get into a different gas station. Continuing south by way of Hwy 100, we saw more long lines at certain stations, while others also seemed to have just a few people pumping gas. This prompted us to discuss the demand for generator fuel.
We still had conflicting feelings about whether or not we should invest in a generator, but, in that car, driving south on 100 toward "home", we had another agreement: we would finally upgrade from our insulated shopping bag to a real cooler, right now. Though we hadn't opened the freezer since the power went out, we both admitted worrying about food safety as we approached the 60 hour mark without electricity. And we craved cold drinks.
We came to this agreement as we were wading through heavier-than-usual traffic congestion at the main shopping center, so we continued 2 more blocks to the Cabo Rojo Walgreens. I think I actually did Smack My Head when I realized there were no coolers left there. Still, I thought about the fact that Cabo Rojo proper had only been without power about 36 hours, and I decided to believe that meant there had to be more coolers available in more obscure locations. So we started wandering the unfamiliar territory of 'downtown' Cabo Rojo.
We struck out at several small stores, and the two hardware stores I was vaguely familiar with had closed just minutes before, at 5. We decided to brave the traffic and try the bigger stores in the shopping center on 100. Then I realized this was a chance to show off to DS what little I'd learned about the local neighborhood! Meandering thru small streets in a residential area, we pulled up to a baseball field where a few young people were playing Cricket in an overgrown field. Forty feet from the car was a pedestrian entrance to the backside of the shopping center! I grabbed a cart from the many that had been abandoned there and just glowed in a feeling of triumphant efficiency!
In this relatively huge grocery store i was delighted to keep appearing knowledable to my DS as I showed him "the room" where all the fun beach and yard stuff are kept. Sadly, the shelves were depleted and there were no coolers there. Returning to the regular grocery aisles I bravely flagged an employee who understood my google-translations well enough to bring us to a stash of about 8 styrofoam coolers on top of a wall of freezer units. While he found a way to bring them to the ground we were joined by another customer seeking the same thing, and as we walked away i noted they were wisely moving all the few remaining coolers up to the front of the store.
As happy as we should have been with that result (win!), I was disappointed that our choices were limited to styrofoam, kicking myself for not picking up a more efficient and eco-friendly bamboo cooler weeks ago. Suddenly, that disappointment was deeply surpassed by the shocking news at the check out stand: THE STORE WAS SOLD OUT OF ICE. Now we had to decide to go searching for ice nearby, or reverse course back to Mayaguez, where we were sure there would be some, as their recent power outage had not surpassed 24 hours. A bit thrown emotionally, and definitely resistant to wasting gas by backtracking, I recalled Boqueron actually has an ICE FACTORY out on 101, I persuaded my DS to bet on the stores near the ICE FACTORY having plenty of stock.
Still feeling some triumph for beating traffic in the parking lot and getting an ice cooler before they were all gone too, we stopped at three different stores without ice as I felt my resolve to have confidence beginning to weaken. Then we saw a man carrying a bag of ice around a corner, and we turned down the street he'd been walking on to see what store he'd come from. Quickl we saw there were no open stores on that block, so I suggested driving back to catch him and ask him where he'd bought it, but DS surprised me with a snap of "no"!. Later he told me he was surprised himself by how quickly the archaic male stereotype of refusing to ask for directions or help had commandeered his voice. In the meantime, we found ourselves in a block of heavy traffic between a gas station, bar and panaderia. As I played stop-and-go in the car, he simply walked from one business to another getting a repeated "no", No and NO.
A few blocks later, I was turning around in the parking lot of another panaderia, when I heard a woman returning to her car, tell the driver, in spanish, there was "No Hielo". I glanced thru the windows and saw my husband in a long line in the bakery. I stood outside the drivers side of the car, waving to get his attention, and hoping other customerrs in line would remark on my crazy antics. He finally noticed and came back outside to get the bad news from me. I then suggested we might be able to avoid long lines by trying to ask "hielo" in a loud voice as we entered a store. After all, with the power still out, and it being the dinner hour, many people were simply picking up dinner to take home to the family. as we drove down 103, toward the ICE FACTORY, we debated whether or not "hielo" was 2 or 3 syllables, and whether or not it began with a hard "y" sound, and whether or not it was appropriate to skip formalities and just blurt out what was becoming the big question: do you have ice?
Duolingo be damned. We skipped the polite language and got to the point. In the car we were chaotically discussing two things: the correction pronounciation of hielo, and which businesses we should stop at. It was about my DS's 6th turn to go inside and ask, when he decided to take the plunge and ask for ice in spanish. he came back out looking so very pleased that i was confused by his lack of a bag of ice in his hands. It turned out he was feeling proud that the clerk understood his spanish. I should have given him a high 5.
We struck out a few more times, and tried to keep cool as we continued to debate whether we had taken any wrong turns in trying to follow the twists of 102. Earmarking true west withtThe setting sun made me worry we were heading in the wrong direction, and i was on the verge of panicing when we finally got to 101. Dusk had now completed its arrival and it was clear there was less electricity in this neighborhood than any of the ones we'd been traveling thru, but traffic seemed even more intense. We could tell which stores were open before we saw their lights as the generators made such a racket but the silence in the distances between them darkened my sense of hope.
At Ritmar Market on 101, I was approaching the entrance when I saw a woman getting back in her car who had been in line at Econo with us, and my gut told me she was on the same quest we were. Feeling a sudden desire for camaraderie, an emotional lurch pulled me toward her, but as I caught her eye I saw only bitter frustration. I felt too intimidated to even ask if she'd been looking for ice.
Situation Miserable, But Not Serious
Day 3 with no power (after the Epiphany Earthquake): we'd stayed up late enjoying the less humid breezes of last evening with cold beers, so we were just getting going by noon. Caffeine withdrawal was making me almost as cranky as my DS' wifi withdrawal behavior. All of our electronics needed re-charging, and the day was just passing 80degrees with no breeze. Lucky there was a Starbucks just a ten mile drive north, in Mayaguez, and they had power!!!
We spent two hours there before I got restless. As DS was still involved in something online, I took a walk around the block to refresh myself. That block was much bigger than I'd thought and left me with humidity-intolerance. I came back into the cafe with an irrationally urgent desire to go jump into the ocean. A quick check with facebook showed our neighborhood was still without power (fans and a/c), thus we agreed to stop and get ice on the way home. We had no cooler in the car today so we decided it would be smarter to get the ice closer to home, in case traffic was slow. It was almost 4 pm, and we'd had two agreements in a row despite my weather weariness.
Driving south, towards more neighborhoods without power, we again observed the irony of people lining up at some gas stations while others stations seemingly had supplies and no customers. For instance, on the north side of the Mayaguez Mall, the Shell station had one car pumping gas, while on the south side of the mall, technically in Homigueros, there was a line of maybe 2 dozen cars creating traffic hazzards to get into a different gas station. Continuing south by way of Hwy 100, we saw more long lines at certain stations, while others also seemed to have just a few people pumping gas. This prompted us to discuss the demand for generator fuel.
We still had conflicting feelings about whether or not we should invest in a generator, but, in that car, driving south on 100 toward "home", we had another agreement: we would finally upgrade from our insulated shopping bag to a real cooler, right now. Though we hadn't opened the freezer since the power went out, we both admitted worrying about food safety as we approached the 60 hour mark without electricity. And we craved cold drinks.
We came to this agreement as we were wading through heavier-than-usual traffic congestion at the main shopping center, so we continued 2 more blocks to the Cabo Rojo Walgreens. I think I actually did Smack My Head when I realized there were no coolers left there. Still, I thought about the fact that Cabo Rojo proper had only been without power about 36 hours, and I decided to believe that meant there had to be more coolers available in more obscure locations. So we started wandering the unfamiliar territory of 'downtown' Cabo Rojo.
We struck out at several small stores, and the two hardware stores I was vaguely familiar with had closed just minutes before, at 5. We decided to brave the traffic and try the bigger stores in the shopping center on 100. Then I realized this was a chance to show off to DS what little I'd learned about the local neighborhood! Meandering thru small streets in a residential area, we pulled up to a baseball field where a few young people were playing Cricket in an overgrown field. Forty feet from the car was a pedestrian entrance to the backside of the shopping center! I grabbed a cart from the many that had been abandoned there and just glowed in a feeling of triumphant efficiency!
In this relatively huge grocery store i was delighted to keep appearing knowledable to my DS as I showed him "the room" where all the fun beach and yard stuff are kept. Sadly, the shelves were depleted and there were no coolers there. Returning to the regular grocery aisles I bravely flagged an employee who understood my google-translations well enough to bring us to a stash of about 8 styrofoam coolers on top of a wall of freezer units. While he found a way to bring them to the ground we were joined by another customer seeking the same thing, and as we walked away i noted they were wisely moving all the few remaining coolers up to the front of the store.
As happy as we should have been with that result (win!), I was disappointed that our choices were limited to styrofoam, kicking myself for not picking up a more efficient and eco-friendly bamboo cooler weeks ago. Suddenly, that disappointment was deeply surpassed by the shocking news at the check out stand: THE STORE WAS SOLD OUT OF ICE. Now we had to decide to go searching for ice nearby, or reverse course back to Mayaguez, where we were sure there would be some, as their recent power outage had not surpassed 24 hours. A bit thrown emotionally, and definitely resistant to wasting gas by backtracking, I recalled Boqueron actually has an ICE FACTORY out on 101, I persuaded my DS to bet on the stores near the ICE FACTORY having plenty of stock.
Still feeling some triumph for beating traffic in the parking lot and getting an ice cooler before they were all gone too, we stopped at three different stores without ice as I felt my resolve to have confidence beginning to weaken. Then we saw a man carrying a bag of ice around a corner, and we turned down the street he'd been walking on to see what store he'd come from. Quickl we saw there were no open stores on that block, so I suggested driving back to catch him and ask him where he'd bought it, but DS surprised me with a snap of "no"!. Later he told me he was surprised himself by how quickly the archaic male stereotype of refusing to ask for directions or help had commandeered his voice. In the meantime, we found ourselves in a block of heavy traffic between a gas station, bar and panaderia. As I played stop-and-go in the car, he simply walked from one business to another getting a repeated "no", No and NO.
"Tienes Hielo"
A few blocks later, I was turning around in the parking lot of another panaderia, when I heard a woman returning to her car, tell the driver, in spanish, there was "No Hielo". I glanced thru the windows and saw my husband in a long line in the bakery. I stood outside the drivers side of the car, waving to get his attention, and hoping other customerrs in line would remark on my crazy antics. He finally noticed and came back outside to get the bad news from me. I then suggested we might be able to avoid long lines by trying to ask "hielo" in a loud voice as we entered a store. After all, with the power still out, and it being the dinner hour, many people were simply picking up dinner to take home to the family. as we drove down 103, toward the ICE FACTORY, we debated whether or not "hielo" was 2 or 3 syllables, and whether or not it began with a hard "y" sound, and whether or not it was appropriate to skip formalities and just blurt out what was becoming the big question: do you have ice?
Duolingo be damned. We skipped the polite language and got to the point. In the car we were chaotically discussing two things: the correction pronounciation of hielo, and which businesses we should stop at. It was about my DS's 6th turn to go inside and ask, when he decided to take the plunge and ask for ice in spanish. he came back out looking so very pleased that i was confused by his lack of a bag of ice in his hands. It turned out he was feeling proud that the clerk understood his spanish. I should have given him a high 5.
We struck out a few more times, and tried to keep cool as we continued to debate whether we had taken any wrong turns in trying to follow the twists of 102. Earmarking true west withtThe setting sun made me worry we were heading in the wrong direction, and i was on the verge of panicing when we finally got to 101. Dusk had now completed its arrival and it was clear there was less electricity in this neighborhood than any of the ones we'd been traveling thru, but traffic seemed even more intense. We could tell which stores were open before we saw their lights as the generators made such a racket but the silence in the distances between them darkened my sense of hope.
At Ritmar Market on 101, I was approaching the entrance when I saw a woman getting back in her car who had been in line at Econo with us, and my gut told me she was on the same quest we were. Feeling a sudden desire for camaraderie, an emotional lurch pulled me toward her, but as I caught her eye I saw only bitter frustration. I felt too intimidated to even ask if she'd been looking for ice.
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