Mexico City is located in the center of a mountainous country, so it never feels the full force of a hurricane. However, that does not mean that we are totally immune from its effects.
Hilary emerged as a tropical storm far off the Pacific coast of Mexico on Wednesday and intensified into hurricane on Thursday. It will make landfall on Baja California today and is expected to move northward into California. Although this is the rainy season, and afternoon showers are the norm, we have had some heavy rainstorms from the outer bands of Hilary.
On Friday we had just returned from the "Instituto Nacional de Migración" when the heavens opened with a downpour.
Yesterday I took the Metrobus downtown because I wanted to buy some gifts to take home. It was a pleasant, sunny afternoon, but I took an umbrella with me just in case. After I had done my shopping, I went to a restaurant to have something to eat. When I was ready to leave, it was pouring cats and dogs, or, as they say in Spanish, "llovía a cántaros"... it was raining jugs. As I went outside, I opened the umbrella, but a gust of wind caught it and broke a couple of the ribs. I tried walking down the street under the cover of half of an umbrella... but I had over a mile to walk in torrential rain to get back to the Metrobus station.
As if by magic, the rainstorm brought out scores of vendors selling umbrellas. After walking about a block, I relented and bought a new one. Even under its cover, my shoes, socks and my pants up to my knees were soaked. When I got to the Paseo de Reforma, the intersection of that boulevard was a lake. Other pedestrians and I had to detour half a block to find a spot to cross that wasn't submerged in water.
I finally made it to the Metrobus, and then walk a short distance to Alejandro's house. It was still raining, but not as heavily. Fortunately, my camera, my cell phone and purchases did not get wet.
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