The images and videos coming out of Puerto Rico on Sunday as Hurricane Fiona caused catastrophic flooding make your heart ache for the people on the island.
Puerto Rico was without power Sunday afternoon as the hurricane pummeled the small island that I called home for five months while studying there in college during the fall semester of 2001.
In fact, in less than two weeks, I’m supposed to be back on the island for a week. My wife and I, along with some friends and their kids, are planning to visit Puerto Rico the first week of October to visit some new places while also returning to old haunts.
That trip was also going to result in another four- to five-week travel series that I have been planning for our News-Banner readers.
Fiona, however, might cause us to change those plans.
I was checking in with a dear friend Sunday afternoon who lives in southwest Puerto Rico close to where the hurricane made landfall.
“It is horrible,” she texted me. “Gale-force winds, and it sounds like it’s Halloween. No other hurricane has been this way. The island is without power, and Fiona has come to destroy.”
She was texting me from inside her house, which is just a short distance from where I lived while studying at The University of Puerto Rico in San Germán.
I moved to Puerto Rico in August 2001 along with five other college students from across the United States. We were all part of the National Student Exchange, a program that allowed you to leave your college for either a semester or a year to study at another university in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was a life-changing experience.
Puerto Rico was the ideal location for me — an island in the warm Caribbean in which Spanish is spoken. Plus, it was a place I had only read about in books or seen in videos in my Spanish classes.
I remember someone asking me shortly after I applied to the program if I was concerned about the possibility of a hurricane since I was planning to live there from August to December.
“Honestly, the thought never crossed my mind until you mentioned it,” I recall saying.
And I don’t think it crossed my 21-year-old mind again until we arrived on campus that August and saw some signs that indicated where to go in the event of a hurricane. I even recall a presentation from the director of housing about what we would do if a hurricane warning were issued.
“But don’t worry … we’ll take care of you,” she said.
It was one of many times I recall vividly of how the people in Puerto Rico went out of their way to make me feel at home and to take care of me when I needed an extra hand — a lesson I wish more understood these days, especially those elected to represent us.
We were lucky that semester. No hurricanes hit the island. In fact, I only recall a couple of strong storms passing through San Germán the entire five months we were there. And we welcomed those storms, as they always cooled down our dorm room since we didn’t have air conditioning.
My hope was to collect a myriad of stories while back in Puerto Rico in October to share with our readers, but those plans are up in the air since we don’t know if we’ll be traveling.
We’ll be following the news even more this week and hoping that everyone in Puerto Rico is safe as this catastrophic storm passes across the island. More importantly, may we all take a little time to research how we might help those affected by the storm. They are going to need our help.
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
