With the decision to move to Mexico, we knew we would be taking on a whole new set of life challenges. And while we knew one of them would be the potential of hurricanes, we did not think it would actually happen within the first year of living here. Enter 2020...

A Storms A Brewin’

One fun thing we learned is that you don’t know a storm is coming until it’s already on its way. Why? Because the U.S. news doesn’t report on a storm unless it affects the U.S. We don’t have local TV or follow much local news here. We use a VPN and get Los Angeles local news, but even they do not mention the storms near Baja. We knew more about Hurricane Douglas that brushed Hawaii a few weeks back than the recent storms coming for the coast of Baja.

Tropical storm Elida passed by a few weeks ago, dismantling pretty quickly and only giving us a cloudy day and a few sprinkles. A cloudy day and rain? Yes, please. We’ll take all the breaks from the hot summer temps we can get these days. It’s been a hot and humid August, and every time we mention this to our neighbors, they say “wait ‘til September!”.

Fast forward two weeks and we’re gearing up for our first trip out of the states in 6 months, returning to Denver for a few days. Our tourist visas are set to expire and we’re out of Everything But The Bagel Seasoning from Trader Joe’s, so a trip back was much needed. However, “Mexico Life” had other plans for us.

We heard from a friend that we were set to get 2-5 inches of rain next Tuesday or Wednesday (over a week away). A week out? That’ll change right? Nope. We closely monitored it on weather apps and sure enough, rain was coming. We just didn’t realize “rain” meant “storm”… which turned into “tropical storm”, which very quickly turned into “Category 4 Hurricane”: named Genevieve.

If you’re new to Mexico or in Mexico and need more info on the weather, here are a few apps/sites we’ve found useful:

• Windy Mobile App

• BCS Noticias

• EEBmike.com

Genevieve Prep Time

We know we’re in for it when our local wedding planner reaches out and says “are you guys ready?”. Tammy has lived here for 20+ years and always checks in to remind us of thing to get prepped for in advance in case shit hits the fan (thank you, Tammy!).

Tips included:

• Download movies/music.

• Charge your backup chargers, phones, computers, & misc. electronics.

• Have flashlights and candles on hand.

• Stock up on jugs of water, non-perishables, snacks & booze (of course).

She also gave us more serious recommendations:

• Freeze water bottles in between food in the freezer, in case you lose electricity.

• Store tap water in jugs to flush toilets in case water runs out.

• Crack windows on each end of the house to release pressure.

• Watch out for Matrix-bending glass windows and move all items away from them.

The day before the rain was set to start, we saw quite a few neighbors putting up their hurricane shutters and setting sand bags out. Some even starting taping the X’s to their windows. It was getting real. We started feeling a little nervous.

The thing we were most scared of? The unknown. When it rains for a few hours here, the city floods. So what happens when it rains for 2 days straight? We’ve heard about past hurricanes hitting Cabo, most notably Odile in 2014 which basically flattened the city from it’s 135+ mph winds. People were out of electricity and water for weeks and looting occurred in the stores. Sure, Florida, NOLA, Texas, etc. deal with this all the time in the States. But in Mexico, you can’t just tweet at Comcast 10 times to get your power back on. Running out of water is a thing here even in non-hurricane situations. Evacuating really isn’t an option unless we ditch our dog (not happening) or decide to B-line it up the Baja, which if you read our road trip blog, is no easy feat.

IT’S. ABOUT. TO GO. DOWN.

The reason this storm was considered major was due to how quickly it intensified. It went from a Category 1 to a Category 4 in less than 24 hours. It was headed towards Cabo packing 125+ mph winds. They closed down the ports early on Tuesday.

The day brought an eerie feeling in the air and clouds circling the skies. It really was the “calm before the storm”. Kyle ran to Home Depot to hit the ATM (gotta have cash on hand in case the power goes out for a length of time) and grab any last minute storm essentials (note the random microfiber towels purchase — they’re the real MVP later on).

We shut down our normal work day a few hours early, as we knew there were a few things still on our “prep list” that needed to get done before dusk and first raindrop:

• Taking down the patios. Lights, tables, chairs, umbrella, plants… ok, essentially everything on the patio came inside. We have lots of palms so our living and dining rooms transformed into a tropical jungle.

• Placing the towels. Every beach towel, microfiber towel, a sheet, really anything made of fabric that could soak up water was either rolled up or placed on standby to block any of the areas that water would leak in from the floor.

• Cleaning out water drainage grates. Our back patio turns into a small lake when we get significant rain, so Kyle gave it his best effort to clean them out.

• Turning off the sprinklers. Safe bet the outdoor vegetation was going to get plenty of water for the next couple of days.

• Deconstructing our pool. This ended up taking until dark as draining the water took much longer than expected. So we cracked a bottle of wine and watched the sunset while it drained. We’re hopeful our quarantine-rooftop pool will still be in working condition when we decide to put it back up!

SHE HAS ARRIVED.

Wednesday AM we woke up to light rain, nothing too crazy. Our view of the rocks and El Arco was where it was starting to get wild. Large swells were rolling in and waves were crashing at least 30 feet in the air onto the rocks. We worked through the day as the radar was showing the worst was supposed to hit later in the evening. It kinda felt like Cabo’s version of a snow day since it never rains.

Around 2pm, the winds started picking up and rain was now blasting the front side of our house. It’s worth briefly mentioning that we did experience some heavy rain last November in this house, which brought leaks in through our ceiling and ground-level sliding doors, so we had some perspective of what was ahead.

However Hurricane Genevieve gave “leaks” a whole new meaning for us. As dusk turned to evening and evening turned to night, the storm continued to escalate in both rain levels and wind speeds. Regular winds were around 65 mph with gusts reported at 85 mph.

By 9pm, the small, familiar leaking spots in the ceiling started coming through one at a time. When the clock struck midnight, we had water coming in new ceiling spots, new spots in the basement floor, and even steadily coming through new spots in the side of our stairwell wall. We realized we were in for a long night as the most intense bands of the storm showed an arrival time of 2-3am.

Luckily for the first half of the storm, most of the rain was hitting the front of the house, and other than the small river seen in the photo above, we were not having a ton of water problems. We decided to rotate water duties, so I took the night shift while Leigh tried to get some rest and we’d switch in the morning if/when the storm continued.

Around 1am the storm eye rotated on us and we started getting wind on the side and front of our house. Leigh couldn’t help but jump out of bed a few times and help before she went downstairs to sleep in the only dry room in the house, our guest bedroom. It was a good thing because the master bedroom had to be completely deconstructed — bed frame moved, mattress in the bathroom, TV stand pushed against the dry edge, everything unplugged, and random bowls of water and towels where water was coming in through the ceiling.

The water duties became a bit more aggressive — an ongoing rotation of sopping up water, wringing out towels, emptying buckets, plugging leaks, repeat. Soaking wet towels were being hand-wrung (great bicep workout) and thrown in the dryer, spots leaking heavier were getting priority of the next driest towels. Our lights were flickering on and off. There was definitely a point where Kyle (as Leigh’s snoozing) thought we were not going to be able to keep up with the amount of water coming in the house.

But sometime between 4 and 6am, the water draining rotations were becoming less necessary as the hurricane passed by the tip of the Baja. Kyle got to take a well-deserved snooze. The morning continued to bring rain, but we were thankfully able to make breakfast, setup Netflix in the guest bedroom, and get some much-needed R&R after “surviving” the night with a hurricane.

THE AFTERMATH

Taking Kennedy on a much-needed walk, we snapped a few photos of the damage that was done. Thankfully it was minor and the neighborhood crew was already on clean-up duty. We made sure to donate to the deli to support a nice breakfast for the workers, as they’d have a long day ahead.

The once ‘original tiny fishing village‘ of downtown Cabo was not engineered with the infrastructure to manage hurricanes and tropical storms or really any rain for that matter. When something like this hits here, it wreaks havoc everywhere. The rain runs down the mountainsides to the center of downtown into the street-side restaurants, resorts, local businesses and homes as well sends an unbelievable amount of trash, sewage and more into the ocean and through the arroyos.

The beachfront properties get smashed by the waves and storm surge. It was heart-wrenching to see, considering the damage the pandemic has already done to the local economy. Below is a photo (before & after) from Le Blanc, where we just stayed a few weeks back, and what Genevieve left behind (yes, thats the infinity pool in the ocean).

However, in true Cabo spirit, as soon as the storm clears, the locals are all hands on deck to cleanup the beaches and establishments so they can quickly be open for business and get back to normal.

LET THE CLEANUP BEGIN

We spent almost three hours among many other volunteers in the arroyo area of Medano Beach (Playa 8 Cascadas). It was hot and smelly and sweaty but we managed to make a small dent in a BIG mess. If we can sit on our butts and drink margaritas every weekend on this beach, we sure can get off of them for a few hours to help out the cleanup initiative.

It’s amazing to see how quickly everyone pitches in to help out. By Sunday, 8/23, most places were back open and operating with clean beaches out in front of them. The ocean on the other hand will take some time to recover and get back to it’s pristine teal colored water.

During our clean-up on Medano beach, we met two new friends who run the Instagram account, @OurTrashHour. Sharing a post from them below:

“Incredible amounts of trash washed up ashore after it ended up in the ocean during #hurricanegenevieve. We, decided to go and help with cleaning it up today in support of the initiative led by @savingloscabos and countless business and volunteers.

It was shocking seeing how much trash there was, and to realize that this is only a fraction of what actually washed into the ocean.

It was encouraging seeing the amount of people who came to the beach to help clean up.

It was infuriating to see that the majority of the trash consisted of single-use plastic and packaging; something that we unconsciously 'vote' for every time we spend a cent on any product that is sold wrapped, packaged or bottled in soon-to-be garbage.

So, whilst the beach is getting cleaner, the problem still exists. That same trash is now neatly packaged in, mostly bio-degradable, garbage bags, to be transported to the local dumpsite or landfill. Here it will either be burned, or it ends up back where we picked it up today, on the beach, when the next storm rolls through.

It is an inevitable cycle that can only be stopped by the CONSUMERS (i.e. every single one of us!) demanding the change by REFUSING TO BUY GARBAGE to begin with.

This is the fastest, most efficient and only successful way that this will stop.

When they stop making money by selling garbage, they won't sell garbage - end of story.”

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Let’s cross our fingers the rest of hurricane season is kind to us all, and all be reminded that our small daily actions can make a big impact in this beautiful world. We’ll leave you with the amazing sunset Genevieve left behind.