Stories of Odile

Why it’s Good to Remember

It’s now almost three years later. Odile is certainly not forgotten. But sometimes it’s good to remember. Everyone in Cabo has an Odile story – we have gathered some here for you. Just so you can remember too.

Odile Story 1: I’m in the Closet, Dad.

An absent dad, who had left his teenage son home alone in Cabo for a few days, was desperately trying to get a flight back before the storm broke. Utterly distraught, he was literally begging everyone in the airport to let him on a place. A sympathetic red cross worker could take pity on him and said, “Here, take my uniform and you can get on the red cross plane”.

Almost overcome with at his act of kindness, his cell phone suddenly rang. Fearing the worst, as he hadn’t been able to make any contact with Cabo, he couldn’t believe he was hearing his son’s voice: “Hey dad, don’t worry, am ok. I am in the closet – I won’t come out until it’s completely safe!”. And as the dad finished his story, he smiled - "Not perhaps the words a dad expects to hear – but I couldn’t have been more relieved."

Story 2: In the Eye of the storm

Pat and her husband thought they were pretty-well prepared for Odile. Secure in their ocean-view home they had food, water, and cell phones. But the storm arrived quicker than expected. Blowing in the massive glass windows all along the front of their house, Pat was trapped upstairs as her husband was trapped downstairs.

“With huge shards of glass everywhere, and torrents of water gushing in, it was terrifying. Helpless, and separated in the same house made it even worse - we could do nothing.”

But in the eye of the storm, the mid-70’s couple sprang into action, cleared the glass, had time to put the plywood over the windows. And sat out the second part of the storm. Together.

Story 3: Home - Gracias a Senora Sandra

“I work in a small hotel in downtown Cabo. My boss was away at the time of the storm, so I was staying in the hotel with my wife and grandson. Luckily there was no damage to the hotel and there were only a few guests at the time. The next morning, we went out into the main street and couldn’t believe our eyes. Trees uprooted, telephone poles down. Terrible. We were really worried about our house, and our sons so we began the long walk home. The whole roof of our house was blown off. And everything was completely soaked and utterly ruined - fridge, TV, furniture, clothes, sheets, everything. Our home was destroyed”

“After the roof came off, my sons had been forced to shelter under my tortilla cart. Fortunately, it kept them safe, but when they moved it was blown away too.”

“We had nothing. Really nothing. If it hadn’t been for the amazing kindness of my boss, Senora Sandra, and her family I don’t know how we would have managed. They all gave us money for the materials to rebuild my house. It took my wife and I 5 months to rebuild it. And I continued working at the hotel too. I had to support my wife, my 3 sons, and my grandson. I was the only one with a job. We had to sleep outside for 5 months, with our little grandson beside us while we did it. I prayed a lot. And God gave me the strength to continue. Gracias a Senora Sandra, and god, my family has a home.”

Story 4: Let There Be Light (and fridges…)

“I wanted to get to work as soon as soon as possible after the storm. I really wanted to see what the damage was” - said Alex, Manager of Captain Tony’s. “Some roof beams had fallen so part of the roof was down but not blown away. The place was a mess, with water everywhere . But not nearly as bad as I expected. Surprisingly the kitchen was ok. But of course, we had no light, and no power. I needed a generator. Quickly."

"I drove to this industrial place in the hope of hiring one. Fortunately, I knew the girl, and there were two generators. One really old, and one much newer - exactly what I needed. Just as I was trying to negotiate a deal to hire it, a guy from one of the big resorts arrived – “ Hey, I want to buy that generator. I will give you $5000 dollars right now”. I couldn’t believe it - she was actually thinking of selling it to him! I had to really persuade her to give it to me – finally she did. I drove off with it in the back of my Nissan pick-up, promising to return with the $1200 we agreed for the month."

"The generator was a godsend – and kept the restaurant going. We had light, and we were able to able to keep the fridges and freezer running. We had propane for cooking, so we fed lots of people, and give them cold water and coffee. We helped everybody who came to the restaurant - for free. And Captain Tony’s became kind of a central drop-off point at the Marina – people came with clothes, and food and everything. I am really glad we were able to help. It was great the way people came together. Little by little things got going. And on Day 24 we were back in business – offering the full Captian Tony’s Menu."

Story 5: A little white lie…

It was Day 5 after the storm. Melissa had decided to evacuate. And had been waiting for 9 hours at the airport. There was no water, no shelter, and no roof. But lots of sun. And lots of desperate people.

“I was really starting to panic. Thinking I would never get out. Then I remembered I had brought my bible. I started to read it. And immediately I felt calmer. Someone asked if I could read it aloud, as the despair was rising around us. I read Psalm 27 – and the effect was amazing. Everyone was calm. So, I kept on reading. After a while I went to ask about the flight. The airline agent told me that we might not get on it. It was going to be the last flight of the day, and there were hundreds of people still waiting. I knew I couldn’t back to everyone with bad news. And I knew this was definitely an occasion when a little white lie was allowed… So, I just told them everything was fine, that the flight was leaving soon, and we would all get on it. Everything was fine. And we did get on it.”

Story 6: How I knew it was going to be ok

“It was just awful. The devastation. The losses. Everywhere... I really didn’t know when it would end. But the day I say the juice man back in business I knew everything was gonna be ok. He has been on my corner for 35 years. And he was back. That meant life was normal again. Or almost. We did it. Cabo was back on its feet.”