Ghost town all that's left in Playa del Cajío

By Ruth Morris
Havana Bureau

PLAYA DEL CAJíO -- Chessboards came out and children played pick-up soccer, as Cuban evacuees settled in for the restless wait ahead of Hurricane Wilma.

At last count Friday, Cuban authorities said they had evacuated more than 367,000 residents in anticipation of the mammoth storm system. The government maintained high alerts over the two western provinces of Havana and Pinar del Río, and over the southern Isle of Youth, already awash in rain.

State-run newscasts reported national flights were grounded. Schools were closed for a second straight day, and strong winds began to whip through the tobacco-growing Pinar del Río region to the west.

"We're not tough guys, we're just saturated," said Angel Lambert, a member of a four-man civil defense team that guarded Playa del Cajío, now a ghost town in Havana province, with the help of six stray dogs. Like other coastal communities, Cajío was evacuated to the last resident.

As if to demonstrate nature's potential, the scraggly fishing village is made up of multi-colored shacks built from the mismatched plywood of houses destroyed during earlier storms.

Cajío's residents have insisted the town's namesake, an Indian, protected them from the worst weather. As long as his statue faces the sea, Lambert said, the town has persevered and rebuilt.

But a month ago, a bolt of lighting brought the statue down.

"They say the lightening bolt was meant for someone else, and he took it instead," said Alberto Perez, another watchman. "And some say it was because something bad is going to happen," he shrugged.

In nearby shelters, evacuees watched fuzzy television images of weather forecasts and snacked on oranges and bread. Most Cuban evacuees make their way to friends' homes, but others rely on makeshift shelters converted from boarding schools.

As Wilma strolled northward, Cuban meteorologists turned their attention to the island's northwestern shore and warned that the storm might not pass until Monday. They reiterated calls for residents to avoid crossing rivers and to be alert to mudslides.

The government even asked farmers to verify they have several days of medicine on hand for cattle and goats that have been moved to high ground.

"The reservoirs are almost at their limit, and on top of that, it could rain for many more days," said Barbara Sulueta, director of a shelter just outside Caimito, near Havana. Nestled in a citrus-growing region, she said outlying communities could lose some of their crops if heavy winds also come through.

Nine-months pregnant, Maria Caridad Cordoví, said she badly needed for Wilma to be over.

"I could have the baby today or tomorrow," she said. "But it's safer here than in our house. The roof is made of thatch, and the storm could easily blow it away."

Cuban shelters are staffed with doctors and nurses, and an attending physician said a hospital three miles away could receive Cordoví if she goes into labor.

Ruth Morris can be reached at alisonrmorris@aol.com.

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