Living at Lake Chapala in Mexico

Did a Miracle Save the Orphanage?
"It must have been a miracle." Michael Eager was telling his story about his visit to the area of San Juan Cosalá on the day after the storm.

Michael had gone out with his maestro (brick mason) to bolster the man and to see the area of his home, which is very near the Niños y Jovenes orphanage. As he stood near the maestro's mud swamped home, he looked up into the mountains toward the Raquet Club and could clearly see the path of water and debris from the storm.

The rocks and mud were coming down, straight at the orphanage, and then, just before it go there, it turned, toward the west.

The buildings are damaged and filled with mud and debris, but had it kept coming on that path, the orphange would have taken the brunt of the storm.

Another View of the Path of Destruction
In the plaza last night, we talked to folks who had been out in a boat on Friday--they report that there from that vantage point--to the south and west of San Juan Cosalá they could clearly see the contrast of the bare land where the mountain had given way.

The Evacuation
It's a silly thing, but you know how people are...now folks are arguing about if there was or there wasn't an evacuation of the folks in the Raquet Club Wednesday morning.

Dixie Nicholson told me in a phone conversation when she was able to get all the way down the mountain and into town that they had been asked to evacuate, but there was no way to get out, and because their house was not damaged and was on the mountaintop next to the peak that gave way, they felt they were safe remaining in their house.

We talked to a still-shaken Sandy Shroeder this morning. Her husband had left for the airport before the storm hit, leaving Sandy to take her in-laws to the airport later on Wednesday.

They heard the storm hit, but didn't realize how badly damage the streets were until Sandy tried to leave to take her inlaws in for their flight. Not long after they were all asked to evacuate their home for fear of further damage and slides. They went to a safer place not far away for a time before they were allowed to return to their home. Sandy was able to get out to take her in-laws to the airport the following day, but she is still reliving those moments.

The Buried Man
Fernando is my neighbor. He was a waiter at La Nueva Posada for many years in between stents of time doing construction in the United States. Now that his children are teen agers, he's not gone back to work, even though he received his US citizenship last year.

Now Fernando has a construction crew here in Ajijic, but many of his workers live in SJC. The first day they were trying to help those in the most need--all day long--and that's how he happened to help dig away the mud to free a Raquet Club resident who was buied up to his chest. Thank God for folks like Fernando and his crew who are now working at their jobsite during their regular hours and then working until dark and beyond helping others in the storm affected area.

The Airlifted Injured
Not much as been said about the injured--at least not beyond those original reports from the Guadalajara newspapers that said that 50 (then they downsized the number to a more reasonable 15) persons treated for hypothermia, and a relatively small (50 or so) treated for bumps and bruises.

Today at church organist Loretta Smithburg described watching from her home on Wednesday as a fairly constant stream of injuried were carried to the helicopters who air lifted them to Guadalajara for treatment.

The Raquet Residents Faring Better Than their Employees
Parishoners at our Mass this morning retold their maids' problems. One maid walked up the hill, to tell her employer that since her father-in-law's home had been destroyed and her own home full of mud and all of her children's shoes (and most clothing and other small items) had been swept away she wouldn't be able to come in for a few days. The Raquet Club resident handed the woman much of the cash ($200-300 US) she had on hand and told the maid to take care of what she needed to do at home and when it was better there to come back to work.

Loretta told us a similar tale, saying her maid also had reported that the children no longer have shoes and most of the items in her house are gone.

Sandy Shroeder told us about a gardener and his family who lost their home in the village. The owner of the large home where he works has moved the gardener and his entire family into one of the large casitas.

The Way You All Are Helping
I know that many of you are helping in a multitude of ways. I know it is all so much appreciated by the folks in SJC--and I know that the need for our help has only begun.

I'm reminded today from Rosana Hart that a way we can all help is with prayer. Please follow this link http://www.mexico-with-heart.com/blog/ to read the lovely prayer she penned today for all those who have been affected by this storm and clean up effort.

Rosana and her husband live in San Juan Cosalá and have posted a number of photos in their blog entries. Take a look.






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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.