Well, This has been indeed the worst experience ever.
I remember the cat. 3 Hurricane Hugo, September 18, 1989. It was a horrible sight, and scary experience that as a 5 years old i still remember today. A few years after, among other hurricanes that scraped us, Hurricane Georges, a cat. 4, hit us in September 21, 1998. I was 14. I remember the devastation, the months without power.

Now... fast forward to 2017, September 6 Hurricane Cat.5 Irma scraped us and made a lot of damage, partially destroying our power grid. Electricity slowly came back to some sectors, it never arrived on the one i live in thou, cuz on september 20 (it started on the 19th night actually) Cat. 4 (short of 2 mph winds to be officially a cat.5) Hurricane María razed us through the very middle. This was the scariest experience i have even gone through. Holding down the door, pinching it with the fridge and ottomans, and a window that broke. Between the loud howls, bangs and cascades of water the day never seemed to end. My hands and arms hurt, how much water i had to draw out. the force i had to use in a desperate moment. Scary... but what is worse is the aftermath... no one could be prepared enough for this.

Remember, many of us got provisions for Hurricane Irma, Hurricane María didn't give us enough time to replenish or re-prepare. The level of destruction, the power grid does not exist anymore, many roofs and complete houses flown off. Every single communication tower including the radio ones, all but one, were destroyed. No one could not communicate with family nor friends. Could not get to them cuz every road was blocked with trees and debris. I was actually trapped in the area were i live for 3 days. All neighbors united to clear some paths.

Now mosquitoes are the new normal, this humidity is creating a heat wave beyond endurance levels. There was no water to refresh yourself or flush down a toilet. Eating just a can of sausages for the whole day. Its something out of a Mad Max movie puertorrican edition.

I must say I'm tired, so tired. I cannot get a good night rest between the mosquitoes and the heat, is nearly impossible. I made a line just to get gas for my car that lasted 6.5 hours, then a 2 hour line to get into a place where they were serving food. I haven't had a cold beverage in a whole month. Thankfully I had a water filter jug where i was filtering so I was good on actual drinking water.

One week after the devastation a miracle happened. The water cameback YAY! 1st thing was to flush the toilet, get a decent shower and collect some more on canisters, just in case. Little did I imagined, some debris hit a solar water heater on my roof and broke some pipes. Water was pouring out in such a manner the it was actually flooding my terrace. All I could do was laugh, the irony.

About 4 days later the problem with the water flood was fixed but then the water went out again... good thing i collected some more huh.
Now we're living just a day at a time. Every days is a hunt.
-Ok, what do we need? 1st... food... there I saw some food trucks... cash only... ok... there is one ATM working nearby lets go... OMG, the line was so big, there were people standing under the scorching sun for 3 hours and they weren't even half way down. By mare coincidence i found a Walgreens that just opened and had limited access but there was an ATM inside that worked... Thankfully the line i did was only about 45 minutes. Bought 2 citronella candles, one aroma candle (there is a foul smell everywhere) and 4 awkward candles that people use for rituals, a can of pineapple juice and bread... thats all they had T__T

With cash on hand, small on provisions my BF and I aren't so bad. even thou we're just having one meal a day, we stuff ourselves enough to last us till nigh. Hungry, drink a glass of water and go to bed. Heat and mosquitoes.

It didn't help that the government issued a curfew from 6pm to 5am (scalpers and robbers were being dicks and assaulting people for their much needed gas and even stealing generators ... seriously!) the time you had to do everything was short. Too many long lines. later it got moved from 9pm to 5am.

As of today, October 9, 2017, we are still in total darkness. I finally got in contact with friends and family, got water running back at the house, no flooding (must of my friends are with running water too). Curfew got moved to 12am till 5am. The Prohibition of alcohol Law or what we call as Dry Law got lifted. the last two days before i spent the night hanging out at a bear's bar the THANKFULLY didn't suffer mayor damages and were able to open. I laughed, had fun with strangers, Friends I haven't seen since Irma were there. We hugged and cried. We even sang Karaoke.

The recovery is slow, so slow. I heard there is military involvement and such but during this time i haven't seen any. Everything so far has been thanks to the very efforts of civilians and the willingness of people to actually do something and help. Even I contributed in the only ways i could. Gave lifts, had people over to shower and collect water, etc. But government's officials i have seen none.

Then i heard something that disturbed me on the radio... Trump came over and... did he just made fun of us? the officials he thanked so much where are they? What is the media selling to the outside world!? Lies... that much i can tell u.

Why can I write this catharsis of a journal? well, my workplace (where i had to help clear debris and clean up cuz the roof flew off) has a diesel generator and they have a contact who gets them the fuel they need to operate in a minimal but functional way. There is internet too. And here I am. Stronger than ever, trying to keep the calm.

But i'm so exhausted... its been a month and the officials are saying it will be about 8 months to a year and a half ... so here we go. Send me strength cuz for the next 7 months... maybe, and thats a huge maybe we can have some normal and to the very least. have a good night sleep.