‘like going back in time’: puerto ricans put survival skills to use - home battery pack

SAN JUAN, P. R. —
A grandmother turned the school bathroom sink into a bathtub.
Neighbors are stacking public meals on old gas stoves in a garage. A 79-year-
The old man cooked a bonfire with fallen branches.
More than a month ago, Hurricane Maria swept Puerto Rico on a destructive road that spared no region, race or class, and residents of the island found that, when they try to work without many amenities in the modern world, their creativity has reached its limit.
Water and electricity are not enough.
Mobile phone services are spotty to non-existent at all.
The car was damaged and the road was blocked.
For many people, work and school have not yet recovered, so they wander the streets, play board games and sit by candlelight to tell stories.
Kevin Jose Sanchez Gonzalez, 25, said: "It's like going back to the past . " He has lived in the dark since.
5. the day before the previous storm, Hurricane Irma began to cut off the power grid in Puerto Rico.
Squeezed into the homes of three or four families at a time, living on cans and frozen food --
Puerto Ricans have been learning to make dry food, and there is no way to turn it into a hot meal, sleeping in a shelter, sometimes in an extreme way.
When the sun fell in the Old San Juan's La Perla shantytown, the 79-year-old ramon Marrero fell on the unwashed baby bed in his brother's tool shed, and since Maria claimed his home, he lived there all the time.
Everything else in the bare, moldy room was illuminated by a light bulb: two plastic chairs full of clothes, canned fruits and vegetables, and a gas burner. Mr.
Marrero, a community elder known to his neighbor Don ramon, wore a towel on his bare back to ward off mosquitoes.
Earlier, he went to the post office to charge his cell phone and battery pack.
Since the storm, the only electricity he has seen comes from an extension cord connected to a shared generator donated by Luis fonsey, the Puerto Rican pop singer who filmed a video for the popular song "desspacito" in La Perla. Mr.
Marrero is hesitant to plug in a light bulb or electric fan --
Only one at a time-
Because he is afraid of overheating the machine or getting energy from his neighbors.
Residents of Barrio said they could only clean up the garbage and other garbage themselves after the storm because the municipal workers were not present. Like Mr.
Marrero, they set fire to cook with fallen branches.
Lorel Cubano, head of a local non-profit organization, said most of the community's assistance came from private citizens and celebrities, such as Mr. Fonsi.
"The government has not arrived here yet," she said . ".
92-year-old Georgia Lopez Ortiz is one of many elderly residents of the Luiz lorines Torres housing program, who have been too scared to walk out since Maria wiped out the street lights
Notorious Crime
The biggest development in the Caribbean is dominated by hostile gangs.
Residents say it becomes more dangerous in the dark. Ms.
Ortiz's washing machine is broken so she has been using her hands all the time
Wash clothes in the bucket.
She can't cook, so her daughters bring her food every few days.
When the aid group visited, she threw a rope into the safety bar that surrounded her patio and used it to pull up a pack of water and dry goods.
Raquel Mercado, 69, lives in a narrow house
Apartment with her room 37-year-old son.
Her car has not worked since the storm was flooded, so she is unable to go to the bank to withdraw cash or go to the pharmacy to replenish her prescription.
She is selling snacks in the apartment and wants to make some money.
"What else can be done? ” Ms. Mercado said.
"We're stuck here.
"In the living room of Maricarmen del Llano, a baseball game rings from a speaker connected to the projector screen.
The adults drank red wine for dinner with fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Even in the well
However, life is not normal in some parts of the island.
Last month, seven family members, including a newborn, had been living with MS.
School psychologist del Larno
Her husband is a vet.
Their two children, aged 7 and 9.
The generator of the whole house was broken.
Overnight they run the air with a machine
Air conditioning in each bedroom.
Ms. Tangji Sobrino
Del Larno's cousin and the mother of the newborn are ready to move home with her husband, lawyer and their other two young children.
They are preparing to buy a $5,200 generator.
"Our reality is not the norm ,"
Sobrino said he was referring to many Puerto Ricans who had recovered further.
The storm also revealed a carefully hidden crack in the upper echelons of Puerto Rico society that has been cracking for the past decade --long recession. Inside her two-
Stainless steel villa in Maria Julia Martinez with multiple balconies and pool
The fridge, coffee maker and oven are covered with dust.
In recent years, the family's floor business has gone off and they can't use the appliances because they don't have $2,000 to repair broken generators in the backyard.
They have a smaller generator that can support several small appliances at a time, but in order to save gas money and prevent it from breaking down, the family only runs the machine at night.
They prepare their food with propane camping stoves and barbecues. When Ms.
One night last week, Martinez's husband turned on the small generator and she ran to wash her clothes.
Subsequently, the whole family, including their pets, slept on the mattress on the floor of the master bedroom upstairs. A small air-
The air conditioning in the room provided a respite for the rest of their home, which felt like a dark and humid cave day and night.
"This is living in hell . "Martinez said.
She admits that despite their discomfort, her family still lives better than most people on the island.
"I feel bad about it.
"In the elementary school classroom, Iris Perez and her two adult daughters sit in plastic chairs, slapping mosquitoes on exposed arms and legs, staring blankly at them as if it was too hot, can't talk.
Like nearly half of Puerto Ricans, they had been living in poverty before the storm came.
But Maria took their ocean away.
Drive them to a new level of poverty.
This emergency shelter is better than the previous one;
There is a shower and a classroom of its own.
Woman of the pastalong with Ms.
The son of Peres. in-
Two young granddaughters.
I slept next to other families, took a shower with a water cup, and the bathroom sink was filled with water. Hand-
The fluorescent lamps on the ceiling are hung with washed clothes.
The bookshelf turned into a medicine cabinet with deodorant and baby shampoo piled up in front of school books.
The filing cabinet is a diaper changing station.
Ms. Nashali Reyes
Peres's eldest daughter is seven months pregnant and worried about the Zika virus. Her 2-year-
The old daughter, Charyliz, is bouncing around the classroom with a blanket and bottle in her hand and doesn't seem to be interested in the bug bites on her face because she is allergic and the bug bites become swollen and infected.
"It doesn't matter what we do . "
Said Reyes, pointing to a bottle of insect repellent.
They said they had to keep the doors and windows open to keep the temperature suitable for living (if very uncomfortable ).
A message written on the whiteboard reminds them to keep the temporary home clean.
"Welcome," it says in Spanish, "May God bless you.
"Felix Cruz defended his neighbor at the table in his garage.
Due to his two extra bedrooms and large furniture, including several sofa beds, where people crashed, his home was converted into a motel and a soup kitchen.
Most residents of the community live on fixed income after retirement.
They eat and share 40-year-
The old gas stove dragged out of the warehouse scraped the cockroach eggs and mold.
They kept stuffing the food into the small fridge of the gentleman.
Cruz's backyard, open it as little as possible in order to keep the cold air.
Neighbors make up money to buy gas to power a small generator that can support several fans, who eat two meals a day, usually rice and any meat sold.
Although it is a pain to wash dishes in the dark, they still eat in delicate China, trying to distract themselves from the discomfort.
"It used to be hard because the food was expensive and the electricity was expensive and it's worse now . "Cruz said.
He pointed to Alma Gonzalez, 67, who said he had become one of his neighbors like his family.
"She will pay when she has money.
I pay when I have money. That’s life.