Greetings from PR

Well, the internet finally came back to our neck of the woods today. It's been so long that I had days where I didn't even check to see if it was working. So, counting this as the first...
we had over 100 emails waiting for us..
I just read the 11 page thread on Maria where Barry and the rest had a lot to say and I have to agree with Barry on the food stamp (cupones) welfare state mentality he spoke of. I see well dressed people in the supermarkets pulling out that dept. of the 'family' freebie card all the time.
It is a fact of life and considered part of your inherited right to free stuff.
And about the laziness, mostly correct. Comes from the free stuff mentality.
When we built our house I had no idea of the Christmas bonus...you're supposed to give employees a bonus at Christmas not matter what. Even if your company had no profit for the year, the bonus is there.

So Trump has taken some heat for the response here. The part about not keeping FEMA here forever was probably prompted by the fact that the government was caught stealing fema supplies for resale. (The claim is "we were keeping them safe from those who would steal them.")
Then there was the demand for $17 million immediately after the storm.
And the local mayors using their buddies to clear roads with backhoes/loaders and then billing FEMA triple the cost.
As for the storm, we have heard reports from Rincon of wind speeds 160-190 mph.
We got about 36" of rain in 48 hours.
Destruction is hard to describe. Still no power here in the hills and it will be awhile.
Did not get to surf for several weeks after as the roads were impassable. Landslides everywhere.
No reports of looting or robberies in our area (40 minutes from Rincon).
Things returning to a semblance of normalcy but this will take a long long time.
Still have not driven to Aguadilla yet. I hear Crashboat is wiped out. Will report back after seeing it and as time permits. We work every day clearing our property of downed trees and .
cutting back jungle. Amazing how fast it grows in 2 months.
More later.

 

Barry, ever the optimist, huh? You know the place well. But I'll take the normal here over anywhere else I've been. Except maybe central Florida in the 70' and 80's. That was fun. But that was then.
It's always summer here. No more wood splitting and snow and ice. That you can have.
And even old guys like us can get waves.
As for wind speeds, it's hearsay, as I said. Locals who understand Spanish news report tell me there were tornadoes and earthquake like events where the land shifted. Near us there are roads that have split open and sunk, leaving gaping trenches that broke the asphalt and left 2-4 ft. areas where the roadway sank.
Whatever, the island is a wreck and businesses have closed and I think it'll never be the same. That's life.

 

La Piedra, I got that information from 3 different sources. One is a neighbor and all he does is sit in front of his tv all day watching news and he is fluent in Spanish. The other two are also Puerto Ricans. For a long time, early on, the only source of news was by radio, so I take it all with multiple grains of salt. But government corruption on state and local level is so common here that many people aren't bothered by it.
There are media outlets here that are not afraid to report things, unlike the controlled US media.
Barry, the food stamp coupon program and such, with all it brings, if probably a saving grace for this place, as it has been shown in some states as well. Without it , black Friday every day, but with weapons.
Look at the videos of people when the EBT system went down. No wonder they're called the FSA - free sh&* army.

 

And thank you guys for the kind words and offers of help.
We could use a pelican briefcase stuffed with 20's and 50's. thank you in advance.