Hurricane aftermath continues with no improvement in sight.

Day 17: October 5, 2017 Today was a great day. I had a visit from two DEA agents. They legitimately were checking on how we were doing. I cannot tell you how much that meant to me. I have never been more impressed with a government agency than I am with them. THE DEA ROCKS!!! I wish the postal service cared that much. The Postal Inspectors really are not doing much other than driving around in an air conditioned car. Such a waste! The Postal service sent several agents to Puerto Rico from all over the states to drive around Puerto Rico and check on the offices. Nice thought, but give them the tools they need to really do something. Plus, they really don’t understand security at individual offices. I have asked them repeatedly to check on my missing employee and they seem to forget as they walk out the door after every visit. I know they are out of there element, but come on! A missing employee should be job one! I wish I had time to drive to Isabela to find my missing employee in an air conditioned rental car. Anyway, My lovely bride finally cracked and asked for a hotel for a few nights. I agreed as it would be nice to take a real shower and watch the news. It is nice to step out of reality as right now it is completely, FU#%ed! I saw on the news President Trump was in town and throwing out toilet paper to a crowd in San Juan. I thought, Ok, that’s funny. But in reality he was tossing out paper towels. Not sure why that made news. Maybe the news wanted him to throw out $100 bills. I am sure if he threw out $100 bills that would not have been enough and the news would have spun it another way. I really don’t understand the CNN News entertainment sensationalism. I understand it makes people watch news but do people really believe anything they see on the news anymore? I know, I don’t! So back to the hotel. Yes, we left the house and we are at a hotel. We have spotty WIFI at best. The room at the Holiday Inn is very nice. The employees are great and the hotel is full of Homeland Security, FEMA, and National Guard members. We spoke to a few of them and they have all said this is a F’d up situation. And they also said Katrina was under control within five days. This situation out of control and its over 16 days. They also cannot believe what is going on here. Day 18: Friday October 6th, 2017 Interesting day. I keep hearing from our family and friends when we get Wi-Fi that things are getting better and the troops are on their way. But this is not entirely true. They are here. But the lack of communication has grounded all operations. A plane full of supplies from the Dallas Mavericks arrived yesterday. Somehow, a basketball team was able to get some supplies in and distributed but the US government could not? Anyway, we met with some troops that are waiting for some direction and mission info from FEMA. We drove them around because they do not have vehicles yet. We showed them the most damaged areas of western PR. They also are blown away by how bad it is and can’t believe nothing is happening yet. They have nothing to do but protect a small airport for now. They explained that FEMA only sent one employee to the west side. How can one person without communication actually do anything? This guy doesn’t even have a SAT phone. The troops are as disgusted as the rest of us but did assure me all this will change soon. The day at the post office was crazy. We are still about 10 days behind. At least that is our guess based on the dates on the mail. Everyone wants and needs the items that are coming in the mail but we just can’t control what they send us. We are processing all mail daily to make sure everyone can get their mail. The volume of mail is unbelievable. The Aguada Post Office employees just don’t have the resources they need to process their mail. That mail is backing up and we they just can’t keep up with it. All employees are starting to breakdown. I know it’s hard to imagine working 10-12 hours then start a quest for water, food, gas and/or cash. The lines for necessary items are getting shorter but you do have to have time to wait. Most lines are now less than 2-3 hours. The frustration is beyond comprehension. We all just can’t continue to do this. My bride and I broke down and went to a hotel. It was nice to sleep in a bed with air conditioning. I took a much needed long shower and used a flushing toilet. The hotel doesn’t have everything working either. The satellite television in the room has about ten channels. Most channels are blacked out. The ATM in the hotel casino is out of cash and they have no bottled water. The phones in the rooms do not work. The restaurant in the hotel has a limited but pretty good menu. I had a cheeseburger without veggies. I love tomatoes. I am convinced I could eat a tomato and onion only sandwich if it was available. I forgot to mention. We have no fresh fruits or veggies. Occasionally, you can find someone selling pineapples but that is kind of rare. I was told the entire crop o pineapples was destroyed. No fresh fruit or veggies available anywhere. I am so glad I am not a vegetarian. Another day has past and we seem to be in the same situation as day one or two of the hurricane. What is an expectable expectation after a hurricane for things to go back to normal or just improve a little? If we could get at least one of the four essential items (water, food, gas and cash) taken off the daily chore list that would be an improvement for me. Ok, maybe add cell service to that list. That would be nice too.