Cabo San Lucas and Hurricane Odile

wupddu · Sep 24, 2014

A friends son and girlfriend were in the resort the day the hurricane hit. You would not believe what it took to get them out of Mexico.
They had to sneak out of their hotel after a couple of days, when the staff told them they had plenty of food and water, not. They made their way out and found out the airport at Cabo was destroyed. Next best bet was La Paz. They found someone to drive them there. That was a story in itself traveling through all the areas of looting hordes. Then trying to get a flight to Tijuana was another ordeal. Once in Tijuana, after walking across the border, they had to convince our Border patrol to let them back in the USA. US citizens, can you believe that? With valid passports!
Anyone else have family or friends that had to work their way out.
The joys of visiting a third world country when the SHTF!

AMProducts · Sep 25, 2014

While the hit that mexico took to odile was bad, it did some pretty major damage in the southwest as well. I did an offroading trip between cadiz and into arizona about a week later... it was clear some very impressive flash floods came through there. Floods even bigger and more dangerous than what hit some of the areas in phoenix. Giant chunks of concrete washed across what was left of the road. In a couple of cases it took hours to go only a few miles, as we either needed to find a route around (I mean drive down into the wash and then find a place to drive up out of the wash) In more than a few cases, the only option was getting out the shovels and digging ramps filling washouts and the like.

While I didn't have the added headache of a bunch of the locals who realized things were going to be really tough in the very near future (we were the only ones in the area, likely the only people for 20+ miles). The worst part was, we were not adequately prepared for the conditions, no camping gear and not enough food, it meant we had to push through the night.

Granted, we were in our own vehicles, had plenty of water, and were in no real danger, had I not brought extra water and fuel, it could have been a serious situation.

Thing to remember whenever you get into a third world country and need to travel, the number 1 person you need is a fixer. The few times I've been to mexico, I usually hired a guy, usually for $20-50/day he would do guide work, deal with police, drive the car etc. Last guy I hired was in Laredo, TX, asked the hotel bartender for references and he recommended his cousin (who lives on the other side), since we had about 10 people, we hired his brother also. These guys were worth their weight in gold... especially when a few guys had some interaction with the local police, got arrested, and they negotiated the "fine" to get them out of jail, and then immediately get them out of the country. While after a hurricane, the price may go up, locals who know the area, and can bail your bum out when it comes time.

BigCat · Sep 25, 2014

My baby's momma's brother was stuck down there with his girlfriend and her family. Was his Bday trip. Holes up for multiple days in a flooded hotel.

Alaskan Airlines eventually were able to fly thousands if American citizens out.....as our own government took their sweet time.