wouldn’t!! welcome, everyone– here it is, the morning after rina danced into our lives. it’s been a somewhat chaotic week, first finding that we were right in the sights of the hurricane, and then everyone in town frantically boarding up their houses and businesseswhen it became clear that really really REALLY it was coming this way. canned goods flew off grocery shelves, everyone trying to buy their booze before the “dry law” came into effect, it was quite dizzy for a fact!!the day before rina came– well, really it almost seemed like the day before the day before her, as at that time we were still expecting impact on thursday morning– and the air was sodden and still, nothing much happening and the ocean like a pewter plate spattered with the occasional raindrop. i walked the streets like a character in a parallel universe movie, nobody to be seen anywhere, last person alive and all that.any number of scenarios played through my head as i made my normal roamin through the gloamin morning walkabout. but it was still a cool and shivery feeling to stand in the gazebo on the zocalo– the plaza– and see nobody at all, except for the three policemen, sitting on a bench. “dintcha know that there was a curfew?” asked a couple of friends of mine, but it was really more of a suggestion from the authorities, and besides which– who could resist such a plum opportunity to shoot some interesting photos?feeling a little “on the beach”-ey only intensified the vision-like quality of the morning.but about then rina seemed to develop a run in her stocking– as a category 3 hurricane it had been pounding down towards us like a pack of malevolent clydesdales on PCP, but then there were sudden signs of weakening– first it was going to turn into a category 1 just before it arrived, and after it left it would turn into a simple tropical storm. i almost felt disappointed– ALMOST!! not only that, but– no surprise!! rina was running late. typical. thursday dawned gloomy and without much to speak of, weather-wise. no wind, no nuthin’. i took a turn through the barrio in the early afternoon just to stretch my legs at the delay– now rina was going to be a mere tropical storm by the time it got here, so no worries, mate!! the drizzle began to pick up though. i watched a couple of movies in the afternoon and the drizzle picked up and picked up and got steady and strong, raining like it came from a machine in your basic torrential manner. i heard we got six and a half inches of rain, which reminds me of a rude joke that i shall NOT share. during dinner there was a little snap of light and suddenly KA-BOOM!! and KEE-RASH!! the thunderboomers began, without prelude. my cats levitated, turned on their axes and disappeared, leaving tiny puffs of smoke behind, headed for their hideaways. the power went out once and then twice, and i turned off the final movie and went to bed.in the morning there wasn’t all that much destruction, some branches in the streets etc. the city has been working on the drainage, and with some results– not nearly as many flooded streets as there would have been in the past, although in some areas it looked a little deepish. people were picking up and bailing out and the mercado was opening for whoever needed some veggies or an avocado. now rina has not really left us, as it appears to be curling around like the tail of a scorpion to come back our way. i seriously doubt whether it will sting us this time though, she’s just a tropical depression now, but i didn’t see too many signs of depression in the streets this morning– nope, everyone was enjoying another day in our little tropical paradise.